Microsoft’s Foray Into Vancouver (we’d call to say hello but we don’t have their number)

Vancouver tech and business news was abuzz yesterday with the news that international super-power Microsoft is hatching an office in the Greater Vancouver area to open up Fall of this year.

Our pal Vancouver technology consultant Boris Mann over at Bryght was fielding calls and doing interviews about the reaction from the local tech community and sums up the move saying, “I see the Microsoft lab here in Vancouver as an increasing acknowledgment that “stuff is happening” here. We’ve got a unique mix of creative and tech people, big companies and start ups, and world events like the 2010 Olympics that are going to put us at center stage.”

Me thinks this is a smart play for the industry behemoth on many levels - here are a few reasons why:

1) Vancouver has an incredibly-creative, tech-savvy, entrepreneurial-minded base of “get’er done’ers” in place with many companies being woo’ed by VCs, scooped up by the BIGS, or just rockin’ out the innovation with their own funding - check out DemoCamp, BAR Camp, Northern Voice and mucho more grassroots geek-fests for a wee taste of the local tech biz culture;

2) Vancouver is the *best* city to live in the world (really, it is top 3 on every list) which helps attract top talent (unless they are NBA basketball players who didn’t seem to want to play for the Grizzlies, but i digress …) which is tremendously important for the rock-star-grade geeks who can really choose where to live;

3) Vancouver is (despite absurd occasionally inconvenient border lines, medicore freeways and mockable infrequent train service) still relatively close to the shiny happy Redmond complex. This relative locality (compared a Canadian office in, say, Waterloo) fosters better collaboration (yes Virginia, even with all of your fancy conference calls, virtual workspaces, VPNs, etc.). For the record, there *are* flights from YVR to Sea-Tac but really you are better off driving or taking a coach;

4) Canada is eagerly accepting talented individuals to add to the workforce allowing MS to hire from a wider swath of talented individuals who qualify for Canadian skilled worker visas but would not be able to work at the Redmond campus due to US visa restrictions (BTW, programmers around the world, Elastic Path is hiring java developers, etc.)

The mighty sages of MS already know all of these reason (of course) and allude to some in the “Microsoft Expanding Canadian Operations in Greater Vancouver Area” press release,

“Microsoft is a global company, and our greatest asset is smart, talented, highly skilled people,” said S. Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. “Our goal as a company is to attract the next generation of leading software developers from all parts of the world, and this center will be a beacon for some of that talent.”

The release continues by mentioning the significant economic benefits to the city, province and country. The hoped-for effect (for the economic development planners et al anyhow) is that MS’s foray into Vancouver develops like a microcosm of the impact Microsoft had/has in the Seattle area where rapid growth produced slews of new millionaires, who’s spending led to increased cashflow velocity into many segments of the economy - then produced a ’solar system’ of spinoffs, start-ups and side-projects financed and produced by ex and moonlighting ‘Softies.

Anyhow, MS PR folks go on to give “The ‘Couve” more props, speakly locally, saying.

“We have long advocated that Canada would be a wonderful place to locate Microsoft development. We have burgeoning high-tech and software industries and a globally envied quality of life, and our cities represent exactly the kind of environment that leading information workers want to live in.”

Yes indeed Microsoft, Vancouver has a globally-envied quality of life and a vibrant software industry - that’s why we live here (and love it). Once you are settled into ypour new digs, stop by for coffee (but not all of you at once OK), we’re in the phonebook.

UPDATE:

Here’s a bit of a press round-up …

Microsoft plans big Vancouver, B.C., software center - Todd Bishop, Seattle PI

Microsoft plans Vancouver software centre - Gillian Shaw, Finacial Post via CanWest News Service

Microsoft announces Vancouver development centre - CBC

Microsoft Vancouver responds to immigration woes - Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service/InfoWorld

Microsoft plans Canadian development centre & Microsoft sings ‘O Canada’ amid immigration challenge - Ina Fried and Anne Broache CNET News.com