Wallop - Microsoft Research teams with serial entrepreneur

Wallop is a social networking service similar to MySpace and Friendster, originally developed by the Microsoft Research Labs. Om Malik and CNet have stories today about the project and Karl Jacob, the entrepreneur who is bringing Wallop to market. From the CNet story;

Wallop is a 12-person start-up that hopes to take on sites like Friendster and MySpace.com by tapping the technology developed by Microsoft's research unit. Wallop has also tapped noted Silicon Valley prototype-shop Frog Design to create the user interface.

The company says the concept developed in Redmond, Wash., will prove far more useful than the current model in which people go around trying to convince people to be their friends.

Wallop is an interesting case study for corporate research, innovation, and the business realities of bringing new products to market inside a $40B company. The Innovators Dilemma by Clayton Christensen explains why large established companies do not typically introduce new disruptive technologies. Sometimes the disruptive technology competes with existing products, sometimes the new "disruptive" business model is too much of a cultural shift, and sometimes the new technology is interesting but doesn't naturally fit with any existing business unit.

As often happens with research projects, Microsoft decided not to commercialize the Wallop project and instead offered to license the technology. Microsoft has a new group, Microsoft IP Ventures, established to license LOTS of technology developed by the research labs that for one reason or another will not be commercialized. I encourage you to take a look at the long and growing list of technologies available for license from Microsoft Research.

Wallop is an example of what Microsoft IP Ventures hopes to do with available technology. Microsoft spends over $6B every year on research and development. With all that research there will always be some great stuff that just doesn't fit with our mainstream business. This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to take advantage of billions in research.

Xerox PARC probably spawned more business and generated more revenue than Xerox itself...all for other companies. Apple Computer took the ideas of the GUI and mouse from PARC and developed the MAC. There are lots of other examples. Wallop could be one of the first examples from Microsoft.

Subscribe - To get an automatic feed of all future posts subscribe here, or to receive them via email go here and enter your email address in the box in the right column.

Comments

[Steve]

Thanks Don. Some good insight there that the rest of the coverage today didn't really touch on.

Interesting how this "revolutionary" new technology wasn't leveraged in MSN Spaces.

On a side note, if you haven't already checked it out, "Dealers of Lightning" is a great account of the innovation & disaster that became of PARC in the 80's.

[Lisa]

A good article until a typically misinformed jab at Apple. Apple Computer 1) had already embarked on a bitmapped interface before the Xerox trip, 2) added substantial elements (overlapping windows, anchored menus, document and application icon metaphors) beyond Xerox, and 3) PAID Xerox in Apple stock in exchange for the walkthrough. Instead of "took the ideas" perhaps you meant "inspired by the ideas"?

For more information (from the people who actually created the Mac), which explains precisely what was seen and how it affected development of the Macintosh, see:
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=On_Xerox,_Apple_and_Progress.txt

And, Don, if you're truly an industry veteran, you know the difference between "Mac" the computer's nickname and "MAC" the acronym for Media Access Control.

[DonDodge]

Lisa, I was using Apple as a good example of an innovator "taking" a research idea to commercialization, just as Mr. Jacob has with Wallop. Apple is a terrific innovative company.

Industry veteran? OK, you caught me...I am just a high school kid. Jeesh, I was having fun fooling everyone. Now you have spolied all the fun :-(

[SteveM]

This Wallop initiative is particularly interesting coming on the heels of the recent news about Microsoft and Eurekster. With the recent media focus on all the social network site's success stories it seems inevitable that some really important innovation in this area is surely on the way from big companies and small. Everything from portals, to news gathering to pure search. It'll be interesting to see how Wallop will come together and how it will compete.