Generally speaking, I don't blog much about work. Many people ask me to do much more blogging about work, but I really try to keep this blog firmly centered in my personal voice. When I talk about work, it's usually because something happened and something needs to be said in words that a person could say but a company couldn't -- or at least it wouldn't be believable coming from a company. Or when I'm just really super excited about something. For a mix of those reasons, I'm blogging about work today.

Robert Scoble set off a firestorm yesterday with this post. We were fielding calls and emails all day from people wondering what made Scoble cry.

So here's what's going on. We got invited to show a very cool research project we've been working on for a while at a conference at the end of this month. Out of respect for the organizers of the conference who were so kind in extending us an invitation to present, we've been trying to keep the project off the radar. The last thing we would want is for it to be "old news" before the conference even happens. In fact, it would be downright rude of us to let that happen.

As is generally known, Scoble recently switched companies and is now working on a new offering for Fast Company. As part of that, he asked if he could come up and visit Microsoft Research's new building to record a segment on Microsoft's initiatives to make our workplace environment even better, cooler, and more conducive to enjoyable work. Those of you who follow these things know that I've taken Scoble on several guided tours of MSR in the past, something we started back when he still worked at Microsoft. We haven't done that in a while, and it was high time to do another, so I said ok.

As an aside, he mentioned that he'd heard rumors about our new research project and asked if he could see it as long as he was in town visiting us (he doesn't get to Seattle very often).

We said sure, but you can't talk about it until after we show it at the conference. Once again, we're trying to be respectful to people who have been very nice to us and not take the wind out of their sail. And hey, it's only two weeks. Scoble agreed -- they're not launching until March 3rd anyway, so it was pretty much a no-brainer.

So we showed it to him and he loved it. I personally did not see him cry, but I was standing off to the side at the time and might have missed a tear or two. :-)

He loved it so much he felt compelled to blog about his experience -- even though strictly speaking he held to his word and didn't disclose any details. Though it started a major hype-fest today.

If you're looking for me to let the cat out of the bag, forget about it. We're sticking by our principles and keeping under wraps until we can fulfill our commitment to present it at the end of the month. That is absolutely the right thing to do.

But I want to be clear: we don't have some huge product announcement planned for the end of the month. Microsoft Research doesn't do product announcements. And we certainly don't roll out "______ killers" (fill in the blank with whatever product or company you choose) just in case you were hoping for something like that. Coincidentally, at the end of the month there IS a big product announcement from Microsoft for three products that ALL happen to have technology from MSR in them. But Microsoft's product teams do those announcements, not MSR. We did have a big announcement two weeks ago about the new lab that we're starting in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (and thanks to everyone who sent their good wishes!) And we will be showing a whole bunch of new cool things to some reporters, bloggers and visitors at our annual MSR Techfest event in March.

All that said, the research project we are showing at the end of the month is exceedingly cool and we hope it will have an impact. Will it make you cry? Well, your mileage may vary. But in any case you're just going to have to wait and see.

For the record, I'm not mad at Scoble for talking about it while not talking about it. I wish he hadn't, but I understand what he was trying to do. Hey, I work in a research lab; I understand the concept of trying things and having them not come out exactly as one had intended. We live and learn. And I fully intend to invite Scoble back in the future for another tour of MSR.