Teaching in Cambridge 3: Microsoft's facility

The other side of the elevator on the first floor is under construction so it is basically a big, gutted, open space

















On the second floor, the Softricity people have a cool break room next to the cube farm that includes a pseudo-wall made from panels that turn on on a central vertical axis. They have white board surfaces on one side and carpet (accoustic dampening) on the other. People in the break froom who are eating do not bother the people in cubes on the other side and vice versa. When there is a big all-hands meeting and people crowd around the break room, the panels swing 90 degrees to enable everyone on to see / hear the speaker. It is quite the sate of the art from the 1980s. I don't like cube farms.


There is a nice stairway between the first and second floor so Microsoft people don't have to wait for the elevators to move between floors. Softricity is pushing to get their release out now and there are cases of red bull in the upstairs break rooms as well as late night meetings in the conference rooms.