As part of the annual TechFest Microsoft Research hosts at its campus every year, Microsofties demonstrated a range of rich-content Internet technologies and some innovations that are more idea than product. 

As part of the media and analyst event March 4, Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief strategy and research officer, hosted a conversation with Alan Alda, the host of Scientific American Frontiers and a star of the television series M*A*S*H fame.

When introducing Alda, who is very interested in technology, Mundie jokingly said that he had agreed to help him with all his computer problems, which Alda quipped were "not very many," before expressing his awe at the World-Wide Telescope, which allows individuals to tour the stars and planets, and then share this with others.

Alda asked Mundie why Microsoft undertook some of its research projects, which had nothing to do with its products, to which Mundie responded that its research primarily fell into three categories: those that enhanced the products it has today; those that created new products in new fields; and those that responded to issues at large or that were competitive.