Microsoft managing director of Microsoft Research Asia has admitted that the software giant has been too business orientated.

Talking to the Sydney Morning Herald Hsiao-Wuen Hon, admits the company has been slow to embrace consumer technology. He said that Redmond should have done more in the consumer space. “We are aware that we are not necessarily a media darling. People don't perceive us as innovative as we actually are. Many of them use our products but don't know it,” says Hon.

This appears to be changing as the future is a world of multiple sensors, where our pot plants tell us when to water them and our doorbell automatically sends photos of visitors to our mobile phone. Coffee tables will have their own touch interface, connecting to 3D cloud applications all accessible on every surface of the home. Where surfaces are inaccessible, skin can be used as a display and input device. Microsoft is banking on a move from a graphical user interface to a natural user interaction which it is pushing in Project Natal.

The Herald quotes Dick Brass, a former Microsoft vice-president, believes the research arm is restricted by the more powerful corporate side protecting short-term interests by stamping out fledgling ideas before they have had time to get established.

But Hon maintains that Natal and Windows 7 are living proof that Microsoft can bring the fruits of its research into the commercial sphere. “All this comes from investment made more than five years ago. Microsoft can also move into any new area very quickly because we have this reservoir of talent. This is an important reason for Microsoft to invest so much in research and give us all this freedom,” he said.