I got put onto this by edtechroundup.com and techcrunch.com two very useful sources for technology information.They posted info on a new technology from Microsoft. Microsoft Surface.

The official site does a great job of inspiring you with amazing flash videos of what this technology is all about, and some of it uses.

MS Surface, is basically a multi-touch interface to a vista PC. It slightly reminds me of the Origami experience for UMPC’s

The applications of this type of interface seems to be large, from the transferring of data, music & pics, hopefully all media will be transferable with the flick of a wrist. There may obviously be a limit on the file types that can be used, but as this is computing at its most translucent, surely open standards will be used?

It seems the surface is being pushed to commercial and entertainment venues:

“The tables should start to appear by year’s end in Sheraton Hotel lobbies and lounges; Harrah’s resorts and casinos; and T-Mobile retail stores, Microsoft said.

They will also be available through International Game Technology, a major computerized gaming manufacturer and marketer.”

Seattle Times

But I have contacted the Surface Team, and Microsoft UK, hoping to get details of the UK distribution and how I could use the Surface in Education and the Building School’s for the Future Project. I shall see what the response is.

I actually posted about a similar idea at the very start of this blog here, and I am very glad there seems a definite way forward for this type of interface, but I do wish it was even more seamless. I would like to be able to be able to work with other people collaboratively, sharing the same documents & resources, but interacting through this interface.

The next step I would like to see is objects that are placed on the Surface surface can be moved and controlled remotely by a collaborator.

A similar type of interface using a zoom & pan type effect can be seen here on Flash Earth. The method of zooming and controlling the map seems like it would work well in a Surface type environment.

For the record, this technology isn’t new it has been around under other names and guises, but Microsoft have packaged it in such an appealing way you can’t help but want a go!

I initially started looking at this type if interface when looking for alternatives to tablet PC type inputs, more notably trialling equipment from u-Touch and Hitachi.

As far as can be seen at this point, this Surface technology will be available to consumers in 3 years with a $5000 price tag. A lot of money for a projector, 5 cameras and some legs really!!

What do you think?

Tags: Microsoft, Surface, Interface, Multi, Touch

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