Microsoft Surface
May 31, 2007
It’s not often I get excited about products from Microsoft, but Surface looks to be something potentially revolutionary. Microsoft claims it will “break down traditional barriers between people and technology” and I really think it could.
The actual surface is able to recognise physical objects such as brushes, PDA’s mobile telephones and anything else which can be “tagged” for surface to interact with. Manipulating objects on the surface appears natural and is remarkably similar to Apple’s implementation in their upcoming iPhone (although that’s clearly a very different product). Hopefully this won’t turn into another “We did this first” argument between the various tech ‘camps’.
For me, what makes this special isn’t all of the multi-touch malarkey, no, it’s how it can interact with your devices. In the videos on the Surface website, and also in an interview on 10 you get to see this in action. Placing your digital camera on the surface causes the stored images to be strewn out across the surface, ready for you to interact with. Want to put them on your phone? Simply place it on the surface and then drag your pictures into it.
Simplicity.
This definitely isn’t for consumers yet, given the high price ($5000+ I think ) but commercially this could be great. They show examples of using it when buying a phone, ordering in a restaurant, paying for things and mapping out trips to sync with your PDA.
It’s due for release at the end of the year and there are already some hotels and retail outlets signed up. I hope they make their way over to the UK soon after.
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