Microsoft to unveil coffee-table-shaped computer By Daisuke Wakabayashi SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research will unveil a coffee-table-shaped "surface computer" on Wednesday in a major step towards co-founder Bill Gates's view of a future where the mouse and keyboard are replaced by more natural interaction using voice, pen and touch. Microsoft Surface, which has a 30-inch display under a hard-plastic tabletop, allows people to touch and move objects on screen for everything from digital finger painting and jigsaw puzzles to ordering off a virtual menu in a restaurant. It also recognizes and interacts with devices placed on its surface, so cell phone users can easily buy ringtones or change payment plans by placing their handsets on in-store displays, or a group of people gathered round the table can check out the photos on a digital camera placed on top. The world's largest software maker said it will manufacture the machine itself and sell it initially to corporate customers, deploying the first units in November in Sheraton hotels, Harrah's casinos, T-Mobile stores, and restaurants. The company is selling the Surface for between $5,000 and $10,000 each, but aims to bring prices down to consumer levels in three to five years and introduce various shapes and forms. "We see this as a multibillion dollar category, and we envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror," Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in a statement. Analysts say the first few applications only hint at what is possible. "The potential for the interface is huge," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm. "Once you open it up to applications, what you can think of is limitless." Continued: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2819912120070530
I have a mini non table version. Its called an Archos Media Player. But that thing is crazy. Puts Star Trek to shame.
Talk about spreading germs........who wants community computers with everyone else's fingerprints all over them...yeck. DD
I would think it would be easier to clean than a keyboard/mouse combo....it is basically a flatpanel interface that you communicate with via voice and touch. so it would be very easy to wipeoff between users if you are germophobic. cant really say the same for keyboards since who is gonna go thru the trouble of wiping every key after someone else uses it? now...for the practical side...I hope they include a keyboard port for those times when the voice or touchscreen drivers screwup....and you *know* they will. Definitely has possibilites...Id love to have one for when Im watching tv in the living room and I want to look up something without going in the back to my office
Cool, but it'd pose all sorts of lifestyle problems for me. In my house, every horizontal surface gets papers, books, clothes, toys, etc stacked on them. Plus, my daughter will dance and play drums on it. I don't suppose they've got a solution for that? Of course, at 5 grand, it's a moot point. Edit: I want the hall-mirror model.
Microsoft (and others) have been developing this technology since the early 2000's. I think it will be the next evolutionary step in computing - I shouldn't need a mouse or keyboard that is separate from my computing enviornment. If you want to learn more about it : http://www.microsoft.com/surface/ Be sure to check out all of the videos on there. Some of the possibilities with this are so cool. T-Mobile, Starwood, and I think Harrah's have already licensed or bought the technology, so you may see it in their stores within the year(?). As for the price, they were saying anywhere from $5000 to $10000, which will put it out of the range of many people. But then the first complete PC and PC XT systems ran that much and so did many plasma tv's about 3-5 years ago.
absolutely. the next few years we should see some serious changes for ways to interact with computers and how to input data...from motion sensing to voice recognition to touch, etc.
No kidding! Shrink it down to personal size and get some Swedish Mafia guys to back it, and it will be the best thing EVER!
There is this new invention called "laptops" and "wireless internets" that I think you should check out.
I'm not sure how Microsoft plans to go forward with their implementation, but I know other companies that have researched the technology have put out surfaces that you can walk on. One company is Vertigo Systems. They show a pool with fish and people stepping "into" the pool and chasing the fish. They showed a surface with butterflies and kids running around chasing them on the surface. I don't know if they're implying the surface can withstand a continual beating like that, but it looked promising. Here's their site : http://www.vertigo-systems.com/
