Dr P Anandan

A strong believer in the philosophy of the mind, Dr P Anandan is currently the managing director of Microsoft Research India, which set up its operations in January 2005.

Under his baton, MSR conducts world class research in computing sciences and allied areas.

MSR India partners with a number of educational and research institutions in India and abroad to push the boundaries of scientific research.

Whenever he is not computing, Anandan, a native of Chennai, tries his hands at African drumming.

In an interview with Senior Associate Editor Indrani Roy Mitra on Tuesday, the technocrat shared his views on the varied hues of MSR, what makes it stand out, and if Google poses any threat to Microsoft's business.

We know that you are particularly interested in philosophy of the mind, and here you are heading Microsoft Research. Has it been a happy marriage?

Absolutely. My fondness for the philosophy of the mind drew me to research. Thinking, as you know, is essentially a mind game. And computers are thinking machines. In the 19^th century, people used to associate mind with pulleys and levers. At present, people relate minds to computers.

What makes Microsoft Research India stand out of the pack? What is the unique quality that identifies the arms of Microsoft Research?

I think the company's basic method of research helps it stand out, the way it pushes the state-of-the art. About 800 Microsoft researchers across the world are always doing what they can do best -- maintaining the highest standard.

The unique identifying feature of Microsoft arms happens to be their environment of intellectual freedom. The MSR arms are guided by the same mission, they follow the same working models. Though researchers don't often get to do  out-of-the box thinking, they aspire to achieve that all the time. 

Microsoft Reasearch works with an underlying maxim: 'We're building the technology that will enable computers to see, listen, speak, and learn so people can interact with them as naturally as they interact with other people'. Have you achieved this? If not, when and how will you do it?

It would be unfair to say that we have achieved it completely though considerable progress has been made in these fields. Computers' speech recognition capability has increased tremendously over the years. In fact, it is dramatically better now. However, as far recognising people is concerned, computers still have more than half way to go. I can't say how long it would take us to achieve the optimum level as time length can't be predicted in technology.

Could you share with us a few breakthroughs you have had in recent times?

To answer this question, I have a problem of plenty. Offhand, I can name a few projects that can safely be regarded as landmarks. For instance, Windows Media came out of a research project 10 years ago, Tablet PCs were conceived in a Cambridge laboratory 10 to 12 years ago whereas Phototourism saw the light of the day thanks to eight years of relentless research.

Again, 10 years ago, proving a program was very difficult. With the development of Static Driver Verifier, MS Research drastically reduced the constraints of program and driver verifications.

Name a few things you are not too happy with in MS Research. How do you plan to change them?

Honestly, I am not unhappy with anything in MSR India. Be it an unbelievably good research culture, unparalleled intellectual freedom, a flamboyant culture, MSR is always working towards maintaining the present standard. Though I know that all good things come to an end, I just pray that good things at MSR never do. 

The IT sector, as we all know, is marked by very high attrition rates. How do you counter that?

IT services has a high attrition rate. But thankfully, in research and innovation, the rate is quite less. The attrition that takes place in MSR often is good as some people need to move on to make place for the newcomers. Attrition of that nature is always welcome.

It is often alleged that research does not feed the appetite of a computer engineer. Do you think so?

I think the above statement is somewhat misguided. Engineers are tinkerers whereas researchers have an academic connotation. But one has to realise that there is a bit of an engineer in a researcher and vice versa. Sometimes people make a mistake in dichotomising the two. I don't see any reason why research can't feed a computer engineer's appetite.

Is Microsoft scared of the progress made by Google?

Oh no, not at all. A healthy competition is always good, it makes one agile. A company which is scared of competition,  is dead. Ours is a highly competent organisation and we operate from a position of strength. We have a strong foundation, we are making sound business and generating a lot of revenue. Hence the question of insecurity should never arise.