Microsoft has decided to pare down its 3-year-old Live Labs effort, splitting the research and development team into different parts of Microsoft's online efforts.
The group was launched to some fanfare three years ago, with Gary Flake hired from Yahoo to lead the effort.
Flake will remain head of the group, which will have roughly half as many people and will now focus more narrowly on search and Web experiences, such as deep zoom and other navigational and organizational approaches. Other folks will be shifted to Microsoft's mobile or online services units, but the company is not laying off anyone as a result of the shift, according to Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake.
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