14 DAY TRIAL // The Microsoft team that developed innovative Cloud applications such as Pivot, Zoom.it, and Photosynth is now a part of Bing. This is the result of a small reorganization for the Redmond company, with the services mentioned above continuing to be accessible, at least for the time being.
The software giant has announced the transition and shut down the Live Labs website, but has yet to make public the specific details of the move, or to offer anything specific on the fate of the projects developed and released by the team ahead of being folded into Bing.
However, the promise is that the technologies built by Live Labs will kick up a notch the company’s search/decision engine.
“After nearly five years as a lab within Microsoft, the Live Labs team is transitioning to Bing, where we’ll play a more direct role in future Bing innovations,” Microsoft revealed.
Bing has already made extensive use of Live Labs technologies. Users of Bing Maps for example can enjoy synths right in the mapping, search and location platform.
There’s no telling what will happen to as Pivot, Zoom.it, Photosynth or Web Sandbox moving forward.
Microsoft noted that it has yet to finalize the transition, but that everything should be clear by the end of October 2010.
“We’re looking forward to contributing our web UX and data visualization know-how to improve your Bing experience. Our transition to Bing and the associated details will be worked out through the remainder of October,” the company said.
Most probably in response to the decision to have Bing swallow Live Labs, Microsoft Fellow and Live Labs head Gary Flake announced that he is leaving the software giant.
“I have resigned from Microsoft,” he wrote on Twitter. But while Flake is no longer with the Redmond company, the technology developed during Live Labs is guaranteed to survive, at least in Bing if not in standalone projects.
“Our sincerest thanks for your interest and support of Live Labs!” Microsoft said.