The Microsoft Garage is an interesting place where some generally awesome ideas develop and grow into products we may or may not get to see. A large organization like Microsoft has many labs, like that totally secret development of HoloLens, and in a pretty detailed post, the doors to the Garage have been opened for us all to have a peek inside.
The Garage has been responsible for a number of projects you may be familiar with such as the now retired Tetra Lockscreen, SquadWatch and the Xbox One game, Voice Commander.
It's a lengthy read, so maybe grab a beverage and clear some of your schedule. But here's a few quotes to hopefully whet your appetite a little:
"Even on a weeknight, The Garage is chock full of people with projects in various stages of evolution. Some Garage projects, like the "Forgotten Attachment Detector" for Microsoft Outlook, will go on to be incorporated into Microsoft products to be used by millions. Others are purely flights of fancy, like Mount Maker, the massive sheet metal volcano parked in the middle of the room.""Other projects, like Mount St. Awesome, are purely for fun, exploration, or to see what's possible – and that is important, too, says Garage founder Chris Pratley. Six years ago Pratley, then general manager of Office Labs, founded The Garage as a grass-roots way for employees to get their ideas heard and pursue their passion projects. From its inception, The Garage has been a place for all ideas, regardless of whether they make it to market.""During work hours, when The Garage's tinkerers are at their day jobs, the space is typically a bit quieter. One sunny mid-morning, Ben Gilbert is the only one there. He sits alone at a table in the large space working on his laptop, which is adorned with Garage stickers: "Doers, not talkers," "Less talking, more doing" and "Do epic shit."
Well worth your time to take in. And it has volcanoes. Hit the source link below to check it out.
Source: Microsoft Garage
