REDMOND, Wash. – Dec. 21, 2011 – A real pleasure of working on the Microsoft News Center is being able to introduce you to fascinating people doing interesting and exciting things, both inside and outside the company. It’s a real challenge to pick a selection of these profile stories for our end-of-year slide show. See and hear from some of the people we connected with in 2011, from tech luminaries such as Jaron Lanier and Bill Buxton to lesser-known but equally inspiring Microsoft employees such as Patricia Walsh and Albert Rocker. You can also hear from some of the engineering teams behind popular products such as Bing and Windows Phone. We hope you agree that all their stories are worth sharing.

People We Met in 2011

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Exploring the Ocean in Our Brains With Jaron Lanier

Microsoft Research’s Jaron Lanier – one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2010” – has spent decades thinking about technology and the ways we use and misuse it. In a wide-ranging discussion with Microsoft News Center, Lanier spoke about how Kinect may help expand the way we think, leading to the use of avatars to access the untapped potential of our brains.

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Back to the Past: Bill Buxton Shows Off 35 Years of Tech Devices

Microsoft Research’s Bill Buxton has unboxed, unearthed, and organized his personal collection of interactive tech devices gathered over the last 35 years. The collection was on display at an international interaction design conference in May and could end up as a display in a museum.

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Creator of Xbox Blockbuster 'Fable' Blames Success on Baked Beans, Happy Accidents

In April Peter Molyneux, creator of the popular “Fable” gaming series and head of Microsoft Game Studios in Europe, recalled the highs and lows of a 22-year career in video games – a career that was honored this year by two lifetime achievement awards.

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Technology Helping Haiti Recover After 2010 Earthquake

On the day of 2010’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, Microsoft activated its disaster response team and began coordinating short-term and long-term support for the country. A year after the quake we spoke with Claire Bonilla, Microsoft's senior director of Business Continuity and Disaster Response, about the progress and the challenges that remain.

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Choosing Microsoft Over the NFL

Albert Rocker found himself at a crossroads of two big dreams. The Georgia Tech athlete had to choose between playing a final year of college football for a shot at the National Football League, or accepting a job offer from Microsoft. Find out how he made his decision, and why people say Rocker is the kind of person who makes you think, “Wow, I can do anything.”

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Blind Microsoft Employee Crushes Ironman Records

Patricia Walsh broke both the women's and men's world records for blind Ironman competitors this year. Walsh, who lost her vision as a child when doctors removed a brain tumor, is all too happy to shake people's perceptions of her limits.

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Bing Social Search Team Makes Search Less Lonely

Social search adds a new dimension to traditional search by incorporating your ‘likes’ and other information from your social networks. Sean Suchter (above) and two other members of Bing’s social search team chatted with Microsoft News Center about working in the exciting technological frontier of search – and what they do when they’re not hard at work.

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Meet the Team Behind Windows Phone’s Breakthrough Design

Windows Phone’s unique user experience has gained a lot of attention and praise from product reviewers and users alike. Four members of the Windows Phone Shell Team talked with the Microsoft News Center about their work designing the user interface as well as life inside and outside Microsoft.

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Rock Star Most Valuable Professional Harnesses ‘Forces of Good’

Every year Microsoft MVP Richard Campbell co-hosts conferences in regions such as the Middle East to talk with young developers about opportunities in technology. His message: You don’t need to come to America to work. If you have electricity, an Internet connection and a laptop, you can start building a better world for yourself and others as a developer.

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Developers Tune In to Microsoft’s Channel 9

Channel 9 has been broadcasting from inside Microsoft since 2004, giving software developers an insider’s view of the people behind the company’s products and technologies. In the process they often display the fun side of Microsoft. This year we visited with Channel 9’s senior director and one of its roving reporters for a look behind the scenes.

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Mr. Fusion Helps Students Build a Nuclear Reactor

Microsoft employee Carl Greninger helped a team of young students build a working nuclear reactor in his garage. He hopes the project can inspire a passion for physics in students around the country.

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