Microsoft Research in Cambridge has teamed up with ETH Zurich Systems group to work on a new research operating system called Barrelfish which is being designed from the ground up, to cope with the demand of increasing number of processing cores, as well as the diversity in computer hardware. This is no the first time that Microsoft is working on a research operating system. Singularity was another research based operating system, the code of which is available for download on CodePlex.
Research
A tour of Microsoft Research labs in Cambridge
VPlay from Microsoft Research – Multi-Touch for VJs
VPlay is a research project by Microsoft Research based on a multi-touch like a Surface Computer, which allows users to manipulate video in real time. Using real time interaction, VJing is made possible on a multi-touch surface which provides new possibilities, unique interfaces and interesting human computer interaction. Different objects on the surface represent different real world objects such as mixers.
It’s not really a new concept, as a whitepaper on it titled ‘VideoPlay: Playful and Social Editing of Video using Tangible Objects and Multi-touch Interaction’ was published in October 2007
VideoPlay is a novel tabletop system for editing video using tangible objects and multi-touch interaction. It targets the unique capabilities of the Microsoft Surface platform which supports high precision multi-touch and physical object sensing and tracking. New interaction techniques are presented that allow content to be downloaded from mobile devices onto the table. Physical tiles representing video clips, transitions and effects can be assembled and locked together with the aid of embedded magnets to create new video sequences. The intention is to support playful interaction, making the process of video editing more collaborative and engaging when compared to traditional techniques.
The Secret Microsoft Underground Research Lab
A very interesting video of the Microsoft Secret Underground Lab. If you just want to see the video for the surprises and not read spoilers, stop right here and click on the image above to see it. If you want to read this blog post before watching the video, carry on.