Microsoft: More Innovation Coming, Including in the NUI and Cloud Areas

Microsoft is promising continued investments in innovation in the future, with Bart Eppenauer, Chief Patent Counsel noting that the company has a clear and compelling vision for the future evolution of technology.

Undeniably, the software giant has made some very strong steps forward in terms of defining a new human computer interaction model but also in establishing a new paradigm of computing for which it uses its extensive server farms.

Eppenauer reveals that customers should expect additional innovation in areas such as natural user interfaces (NUI) and in the Cloud space from the Redmond company.

“There is little doubt that 2010 will go down in history as a significant year for creativity and invention at Microsoft,” Eppenauer stated.

“We’ve released numerous compelling offerings this year, including Office 2010, Windows Phone 7, Kinect, cloud computing solutions such as Windows Azure and Office 365 and ongoing enhancements to Bing. People are excited about the new experiences we’re enabling.”

Microsoft continues to invest close to $9 billion annually in research and development, with the company’s Chief Patent Counsel boasting a culture of discovery, creativity and development.

The immense financial resources poured into R&D at the Redmond giant cover everything from product development to basic and applied research.

“This investment touches virtually every product and service we offer in addition to producing significant technological and intellectual property advances across the spectrum of computer science,” he added.

But in addition to developing innovation for use in its own offerings, Microsoft has also set up a comprehensive intellectual property licensing program which is available to all third-parties, including direct competitors.

Even rivals such as Apple and Google have tapped Microsoft’s patent pool in order to include the software giant’s technologies into their own products.

“Since Microsoft launched the IP licensing program in December 2003, we have entered into more than 700 licensing agreements with partners that also promote greater customer choice in the marketplace,” Eppenauer added.

“Patents will continue to play a key role in fostering technologies that enable interaction with people in new, unexpected ways.

“Our commitment to world-class creativity and invention in computer science and our R&D investment will enable Microsoft to continue setting the standard for patent quality in the technology industry.”