First, some humor:

Two studies in "Innovation":

28-Apr-03: Apple introduces revolutionary legal music service
(300,000 downloads @ .99/ea on the first day), releases iTunes4 (by
far the best jukebox software in the world), updates Quicktime to
encode AAC audio (superior to MP3).

30-Apr-03: Microsoft's MSN division introduces the iLoo, a portable
toilet with internet access. A week later, they claim it was "a hoax"
they played on themselves. A day after that, they admit it was a real
product but it's now been killed (and that they lied when they called
it a "April Fool's joke"). This from the company that wants to bring
you "Trustworthy Computing."

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Joke:

Q: How many Microsoft programmers does it take to write a great piece
of software?

A: More!

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Innovation, when it is done well, is one of the most wonderfully human talents, and a kind of beauty to itself.

What makes it work? What innovations have you seen or come up with that were successful? Most important, what kind of environment makes successful innovation more likely?

A