Lucas R. Haines
All work

Windows: animation that keeps its frame rate, and a $0.50 button

When
2012–2020
Problem
UI animation stuttered whenever an app was busy, and hardware navigation buttons added cost to every phone.
My role
PM for the Windows 10 animation platform, leading a team of five, and PM for Windows Phone navigation and screen sharing.
Result
About $0.50 saved per device for phone makers, opening lower price tiers — and a named patent, U.S. 10,466,974.

Expression animations

We defined the Windows 10 animation platform from competitive analysis and customer research. The core idea: describe motion as expressions that run on a separate composition thread, so animation updates at frame rate without per-frame calls from the app. That work is covered by U.S. Patent 10,466,974, Independent expression animations, on which I’m a named inventor.

On-screen navigation

On Windows Phone, I designed and shipped on-screen navigation buttons with backward compatibility for every existing app. Removing the hardware buttons cut roughly $0.50 per device for phone makers and helped the platform reach lower price tiers. I also drove Miracast and USB screen sharing, and personalized Start-screen photos, from prototype to shipped features.