Like A Science Fair...But Cooler

I got to go to the Microsoft Tech Fair the other day and see what Microsoft's Research folk have been busy doing. I was a little surprised because it was only 9 exhibits and that's such a teeny, tiny scale for just about anything put out by a major corporation, but it actually made it nicer once we got there because you really got a chance to stand and chat with the folks about the innovations.

I enjoyed all of the exhibits, though Boku, Mix, and the Personal Robots in Education were by far my favorites.

Boku is designed to be an introduction to programming for little kids (like age 5 or thereabouts) using the XBox 360. The design is just phenomenal and I could totally see kids adoring the fact that they're able to use the game controller to make their little robot do whatever they want (well, choosing from some pre-selected "cards".) And I think it's got enough complexity that older kids will enjoy continuing to play with it, creating more complex games and environments. It seriously made me consider getting an XBox when (if? it is research, so I'm not sure if it's a for sure thing that they'll release it or not) it's available just to tinker myself.

Mix is, well I got in "trouble" with a coworker for using the word "cool" too much while we were there...but it's tres cool. (Does putting faux French in front make it ok? I'll have to ask tomorrow.) The description from MS's blurb (linked above) doesn't do it justice, honestly. And while I've been rolling my eyes at Vista (especially as I've seen the problems the few people I know who've upgraded have run into)...if that's what it would take to be able to have Mix, I'd upgrade in a heartbeat. I'd have to be super longwinded to go into all the reasons I like it and frankly I don't have the time or energy tonight. Basically it's just a totally new way to look at content organization for your PC (search based vs. file system based) and a nifty way to set up quick, easy collaboration possibilities.

Finally the Robots in Education. This is a really neat idea for encouraging more students to enroll in CS (and you probably have gathered by now that this is an area of huge interest to me - if you hadn't gathered that, consider yourself gathered). It looks like they're really turning the problem on its head and looking for mechanisms that are actually going to try and address the problem rather than throwing the same, tired solutions at it over and over and wondering why enrollment keeps dropping. What made this even more fun is that the two folks at the display were great to chat with, not just about the robots but about the pipeline issue in general and other tactics under consideration etc. I just had a ball.

There were a few other exhibits that were very interesting as well - more from a "Hmm, this has potential for being useful at work" standpoint - which is really why I went down there in the first place, so it's good that there was some value added from that perspective I imagine.

What struck me as kind of funny was seeing the folks all lined up against the wall with their boards and displays looking just like nervous sixth graders at their first "real" science fair. I don't imagine that's the impression they were hoping for, and it may well have all been my imagination (they certainly were all very polished presenters and well able to discuss their research at length - not implying anything negative about their preparation at all) especially given that I had expected vast convention center type environment and instead found cozy and warm little nook. A few of them said that each year on the Redmond campus they have that big show (the word almost every single one used was "overwhelming") - gosh I'd love to get a chance to wander around at that!