Microsoft introduces surface computing with the Microsoft Surface
I’m going to back up a few days here and talk about the latest product announcement from Microsoft. The product is of course the Microsoft Surface and it’s billed as the first commercially available surface computer. So what exactly is Surface? In it’s current form, it’s basically a tabletop based computer with a new user interface completely driven by touch. There’s no keyboard or mouse here - one interacts with the system through “natural gestures, touch, and physical objects.” Think this is all a research project? Not at all folks - note that Microsoft stated it’s a “commercially available surface computer.” This means you’ll soon find Surface systems at places like hotels, restaurants, and public venues.
The Microsoft Surface utilizes a massive 30 inch touchscreen display on a form factor that resembles a table. There’s no Windows GUI here (thank god!) of course. Surface employs a new user interface that invites you to touch the display and interact with it in a variety of ways. According to Microsoft, there are four main attributes to Surface:
- Direct interaction - users can “grab” digital information with their hands, interacting with content by touch and gesture
- Multi-touch - Surface computing recognizes many points of contacts simultaneously - up to dozens of items at once
- Multi-user - several people can gather around the surface together and interact with the computer
- Object recognition - users can place physical objects on the surface to trigger different types of digital responses including the transfer of digital content
What’s particularly cool about the Surface computer is it’s ability to be customized to the individual needs of the buyer. The Surface computer can be deployed in a hotel lobby or bar where users can interact with the system to get guest services, order drinks, look at points of interest around town etc. They’ll also be able to easily pay for their services by placing their credit card or hotel card on the Surface computer.
Surface could also be used at retail store fronts to provide product information whenever a product is placed on the display. Case in point, T-Mobile will use Surface to allow users to find out product info and pricing on phones placed on the surface.
As you can tell, the Surface computer isn’t about to show up in your local retail electronics store anytime soon. The computer is between $5000 to $10000 right now which means only high end businesses and the super rich will be able to obtain the computer. According to this article over at News.com, Gates would like to get the system price down to around $1000 dollars someday - making the Surface computer a more ubiquitous part of the digital home. Note - Gates does mention that he doesn’t plan to get a Surface computer for his home (read the article for why)
If you’d like to see the Surface in action, make sure to check out Microsoft’s webpages on the Surface computer here. There’s plenty of online videos demonstrating how the system works and what the possibilities are for surface computing.
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June 1st, 2007 at 3:57 am
I can’t wait to see what happens the first time a customer slams a beer bottle on the table. How much potential damage are hotels waiting to put in the hands of it’s drunken customers?