Microsoft's Next Big Idea

[ornoth]

I couldn’t help from rofling at this one. One Mem Drive is the former global HQ of Sapient Corporation, where I worked for seven years. The space is almost certainly the 7th and 8th floor, which were among the four floors they occupied in the oh-so-70s salmon granite and teal glass tower.

From today’s Snotlob Globe:

Microsoft seeks next big idea in Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE - Microsoft Corp. is reinventing itself, and it’s looking to One Memorial Drive for a dose of innovation.

[…]

That will be the home of Microsoft’s Boston Concept Development Center, a first-of-its-kind research unit that’s assembling dozens of engineers and designers and sniffing out technologies with the aim of incubating new Internet businesses within the company.

[…]

“Microsoft doesn’t have time to waste. You’ve got a very skeptical public right now that’s looking to Google or Apple for technology leadership, not Microsoft. This is sort of an effort to return to Microsoft at its roots, when it was young and edgy.” That goal is reflected in the space the team will move into this summer at One Memorial Drive, an office tower looming over the Charles River outside Kendall Square. Construction workers are renovating two floors, connected by a bleacher-style staircase and open work area.

[…]

Sturtevant’s team will be part of a larger, already existing Microsoft office at One Memorial Drive, next door to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that serves as the company’s Boston-area development hub. The office will also house the company’s first Microsoft Research lab in the United State outside Redmond and development offices for its SoftGrid virtualization software. Overall, the company is leasing more than 180,000 square feet on five floors in the 17-story building.

Link to full article

Comments

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Hey, I like that building. :)

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2008/06/30/what-is-reed-sturtevant-up-to-in-microsofts-cambridge-development-lab/

Xconomy says they're on floors 10 and 11, not 7 and 8. I guess we didn't have the only open staircase in the building.