Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Microsoft Surface: Computing by Touch

Microsoft has unvieled a new technology that it hopes will take this world by storm. They have coined it Surface. From what I can see, it looks like a regular end table or coffee table, but once you sit something on it or touch it with your fingers, it lights up and responds to whatever is on the surface. If you have a wifi camera, it will recognize it and pull the pictures and video from it and display it on Surface. It is powered by Windows Vista and can be used by multiple users at one time doing seperate tasks. No keyboard, no mouse, just the use of your hands and objects. It is set to be released in November.

It appears that Apple is no stranger to this technology either as they have filed for touch sensitive patents as well. There is also rumors that Apple will have an answer for Surface and already have products that will outshine Surface in that they are eye-movement sensitive and true touchscreen- not projector/sensor based like Surface. The iPhone already incorporates multi-touch sensitivity.

You can read more and see more here.

Some questions:

-Do you see any practical benefits to Surface?
-What market do you think this is aimed at?
-Let's say Surface sold below $2,000.00 would you buy one?
-How do you see this technology branching out? (refrigerators, TV's, cars, etc.?)
-What are your thoughts on this technology?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so awesome! The videos are way cool. The crazy thing is that Microsoft isn't trying to just replace a desktop...they are replacing tables, credit card machines, tv's, ect. It is bit scary that I could I just put my debit card on top of it to bring up my account. I wonder how secure they are. Can you hook a printer up to it? I think it is really cool...still not an iBook:)

If you don't mind I think I am going to post a link to this post on my blog...

j razz said...

Have at it Kellye.

I am sure by means of wifi or bluetooth you can hook up periphrials to it.

j razz

Anonymous said...

Do you know how much it is going to cost?

j razz said...

Right now they are estimating as much $10,000 but most plug it at around 5-6 thousand. Microsoft has reported that it will bring the price down to consumer levels after 2-3 years on the market. Right now, even though the videos showed this for families, it is intended for business such as hotels, restaraunts, casinos, and apparently phone kiosks.

j razz