This is a typical view of my area this time of year -- a view that is apparently appreciated by Microsoft. For the second time in a little over a year, Microsoft has selected a local company to partner in the Microsoft Windows Live program. The first was Pictometry International Inc. for their development of a system for capturing and analyzing aerial digital images. That system is the basis of Windows Live Local (http://local.live.com).
The second, Kirtas Technologies, was announced locally yesterday:
See the Democrat and Chronicle article for the full story.
"(October 18, 2006) — Technology giant Microsoft Corp. needed a partner for its massive digital books project and found it in a 5-year-old company in Victor.
Kirtas Technologies, which makes high-speed scanners for books and the software to edit and organize them, will be part of Microsoft's Live Book Search project. The digital books will become available early next year, Microsoft and Kirtas said Tuesday."
There's a difference in the two companies. Pictometry was picked because they have excellent people with great ideas. High paying IT jobs.
ReplyDeleteKirtas was chosen because they can run a glorified sweatshop ($8 an hour manual labor positions, each Kirtas machine requires a dedicated operator to help flatten each page after turning). It is not automatic at all.