Microsoft Live Drive

What do you do when you accidentally announce something wasn’t quite ready for primetime? If you’re AOL, you stay your very angry that some of your employees released some search information. If you’re Microsoft, you just pull the post down off of one of your employee’s blogs real quick. The problem with the latter is that search engines are just too quick nowadays and Bloglines grabbed a cache of the page before it could be removed.

Either way, we’re hearing that Microsoft is working on an online back-up system called Live Drive (http://www.everyjoe.com/2006/08/15/im-getting-tired-of-windows-live/, or maybe it is and someone else is already shortening it.)

Stuart Padley, or “stuartpa” will be working on the mystery team who’s existence seems to be backed up by a variety of sources (Wikipedia & CNN), but here’s what he’s got to say:

After a year of silence, I am coming up for air. We shipped SQL Server 2005 towards the end of last year, I was pleased with what we did in that team. However, I was looking for a challange beyond building server software (I had previoulsy led teams/groups that shipped Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Exchange Server 2000). In my search around the company, Ray Ozzie’s Technical Assistant (Kartik) pointed me towards a small team of rengade hardcore architect/developer/test types who had had success in Windows Server land and XBox — who were all united in wanting to tackle a really big problem. So, I moved to this new team, which is all a bit hush hush at the moment, but I guess wikipedia seems to think it knows about it.

and

I don’t think either of these descriptions are correct. But there are elements of truth. I am very passionate about allowing home users to be able to store and share their digital memories in a seamless, reliable way. It was this passoin which brought me to the team I am working on now. We do have that ’small team magic’, which is one of the great things about working at Microsoft. Small teams that click can achieve massive amounts, and this company has got the balls (and resources) to back them and make it happen.

Anybody know how Microsoft works in these situations? I know if he were an Apple employee he’d already be shakin’ the salt on fries at your local burger joint. Does Microsoft work the same? I think “stuartpa” should probably be a little more passionate in his understanding of just how quickly the blogosphere works.