PDA

View Full Version : Microsoft sees 3° of separation between hip netizens


blingbling
02-18-03, 10:21 PM
Microsoft Gets a Clue From Its Kiddie Corps
Forget productivity. The new Softie project is an irreverent time waster called threedegrees

By Steven Levy
NEWSWEEK


Feb. 24 issue — Bill Gates didn’t get it. Neither did Steve Ballmer. In July 2000, when Tammy Savage, a 30-year-old manager in business development, went before Microsoft’s heavy hitters and presented a case that they were clue-challenged in understanding an entire generation, the reception was chillier than a campsite on Mount Rainier.

Savage’s dream is that threedegrees will profoundly change the way Microsoft thinks. That’s a tall order. The company’s last attempt at a product that filled the desktop with whimsy was Bob, a file-management system with a cartoony “social interface.” It was a legendary flop. (http://www.msnbc.com/news/873455.asp)