Microsoft Announces Surface Computer

Sounds super exciting! I’m sure someone has done this in past as art project of some sort but for MS to be making a product out of it is significant.

Just don’t give me a blue screen when I’m ordering dessert.

-Zaid

yeah, gaming, porn and video games are the killer apps for this.

they gave a demo of this at CES in Jan of 2006 too. i dug up the webcast: http://www.microsoft.com/winme.....te_MBR.asx

looks pretty cool if you ask me

ok, the photos app is very cool. I want one. We need it for “testing” purposes.

This is the future of computing - and illustrates the difference between Microsoft and Linux in terms of investments in innovation

Saw the Jeff Han video about a year ago on youtube…really cool technology. Mike you are right..this is a porn addicts dream come true…

btw..this is the original Jeff Han video from youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKh1Rv0PlOQ

Instead of auto-filling your empty beer glass, perhaps guests should have to solve a logic puzzle first. A Surface Sudoku, or something like that.

I’ve been wanting to make an interactive touch-sensitive coffee table for about a year now. Problem is time (I’m not paid to do this), and funds (I’m not Microsoft). It would be a learning experience though, not something with the target of being mass marketed.

Cheap shot at Linux, there Search Engine Web. I’m not sure how this “illustrates the difference between Microsoft and Linux in terms of investments in innovation” since “Linux” isn’t a single company that can “invest” in things, so it’s really an apples to oranges comparison. Where are all the Microsoft Partners doing this kind of “investment in innovation”?

Looks absolutely amazing. Same technology that will be implemented into a iPhone killer?

Awesomeness.

Wow, I think Microsoft this time is innovating, absolutely amazing!

This technology has a tremendous business potential. iPhone is *NOTHING* compared to this!

Looks very nice, definitely some promising ideas for businesses to be built upon this technology… I for one will be looking into it

Sony has a prototype.

Jeff Han has a prototype.

Apple certainly for hell has prototype.

Microsoft now shows off theirs.

This is now a question of who can get it to the average joe’s hands first. I give it 5 years.

WoW .. this should be the tagline for Surface Computers not Vista

@ Alaska, the video says that corporations should have surface computers by the end of the year.

So the average Joe should be playing around with this next year. 5 years is too far ahead, I place my bet on 3 ..

So did Microsoft steal this from Jeff Han or license it? As if I have to ask.

ok ok ok. i’m skeptical of those who are posting saying this is kicks an iphone’s ass. um, one is a cell phone. one is a coffee table that NO ONE is going to buy. it’s quicker if you just send me your photos. or link to them. flickr is even better. and sharing music? let’s be realistic. we’ll just download it. ourselves. interesting to see how MS envisions the future: not everyone has a zune so they must use this coffee table. wireless sharing no good?

Seems very cool though I bet Microsoft will somehow make this suck. There are so many ways they can make this good, easy to use and purposeful but I’m sure they’ll find ways to avoid them.

Finally, Microsoft whole-heartedly deserves theirs “Wow”. Very impressive innovation.

I wonder what happens when you spill a beer on it.

I can see something like this at uWink, Nolan Bushnell’s interactive restaurant. I’m very bullish on ubiquitous computing especially in social environments. Hopefully they will open up application development for this baby.

Righhhhhhht… surface computing products from Microsoft that will “break down traditional barriers between people and technology”.

This, from the one company more responsible than any other for erecting barriers between people and technology?

Remember the recent Apple ad? “You have come to a sad realisation. Cancel or allow?”

Very innovative. For once..a innovative idea from a giant. this shows that the company has still not lost its agility..

Apple lawsuit in 3…2…1

I wish this was announced on April 1st.

But, I remember reading it one of the books that Bill gates’ house walls were sort of computer screen and this surface computer seems like productizing the same giving it a commercial angle.

Very very cool… I wonder who has the patent on “multi-touch” is it Apple (for the iPhone) or Microsoft?

@Jan2x. This technology has been developing since 2001. Around the time when Apple released their first gen crappy ipods. I am sure MSFT has its load of patents. If they have the patent for object recognition, game over for apple

I guess Microsoft is greater than Google.

Microsoft = Satan
Google = God
Yahoo = Doggie Sex.

Strange religion.

this announcement just sucked the wind out of iFanboys everywhere. imagine if apple had announced this and called it iSurface. Fanboys would be posting it on every blog as the second coming of christ.

redmond has some fight left, cupertino boys.

This is NOT new or innovative. Here in Switzerland we’ve been able to buy train tickets by tapping selections on a touchscreen for years.
The earliest use of touchscreens to interact with a computer was not later than the 1970s. At the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, touchscreens were used in a control system in 1979. There were probably earlier uses.
There are too many comments here from Microsoft astroturfers trying to present Microsoft as “innovative”.

Glad to see it coming out of the lab. I’ve seen stuff like this since the 80s, but at very high price points. Bill Buxton made it much more affordable in the mid-90s. The folks at Brown University developed a lot of the UI principles in the late 90s. For some reason, Jeff Han’s slick demo popularized it. Now, MS thinks they’ve found a market where they can commercialize it. If OLEDs and a few other key techs drop in price, this sort of thing may become ubiquitous in 10 years.

i want one i want one i want one i want one

The truth about the fancy table.

We saw this same stuff on ZDTV 5 years ago, and probably on CNET back when that network was on TV too. And they said it would do the exact same things back then - except, IIRC, the focus was on touch-table food menus. The technology to do this has been around for a long time now. It’s not who does it first - it’s who does it [well] when the market is ready for it.

http://www.fatadam.com/2007/05.....t-surface/

I so want one of these things. They look awesome!

The point is not that it’s a touch screen, but that it’s multitouch and you can do multiple interdevice things with it. But the demo movie is damn cool (I’m a lifelong Apple owner and don’t work for Microsoft)

I wonder how they’ll power it? Anyone here have airport-style power-sockets-in-floor in their living rooms? I for one look forward to coming home to the heat and whirring fans of my Microsoft coffee table.

seen this sort of technology floating around Cebit for a year or two now, but nothing as organised or fancy as this!

the wow starts now!

I’m no MS fan, I hated the Zune and the XBox 360 could be lots better, but this is pretty effin cool.

A: Microsoft is going to sell it to big companies first - great commercial applications for this kind of device, and its going to be relatively cheap (like $5,000-$10,000) each. Thats about as much as a pool table or slot machine. Its probably a better investment than a Segway! Plus, I’m sure microsoft is throwing the software development and maintence in with the deal to fuel early adoption

B: Eventually this device will become a platform (pardon the pun) for software development. The hardware (Table PC could be a name for it) would be manufactured by third-parties (like Dell, HP, etc.), the software operating system by Microsoft (Vista Table) and then eventually third-parties would create additional software (for example, a method to substitute zune in the ad with IPod all you apple fanboys).

Looking at the world of Star Trek and other Futurist’s visions, I don’t find it a far reach that in 2-3 years early adopters will have some version of this in their homes, and in 10-15 years something like this could replace the PC. I am not saying that everyone will have a fuss-ball table like PC in their homes, but some other device that features similar technology such as multi-touch and tagged recognition coupled with Wi-Fi Input/output.

impresionnant je dois dire, le futur s’annonce plutôt intéressant à vrai dire… on est pas loin de MInority report…

Apologies for the double trackback. Forgot to remove the trackback URL when making changes

As for the patent thing, I think it’d be fairly safe to assume that if Microsoft wasn’t the sole patent holder, that they would have licensed what was required. Especially considering their recent announcements in the Patent arena.

BTW - Gates owns Starwood, one of the hotels using the service first. Was it really that hard to find channel partners that he had to sell to his own company?

http://retail.seekingalpha.com/article/19954

this is a great step from ubiq window devices that I’ve been using and the multi touch seems awesome

We had table-top computing years ago - it was called pong then.

Am I the only person who’s completely underwhelmed by this? It’s a flat touch screen lying down rather than on a wall. Big whoop. Sure they’ll sell some to some fancy hotels and companies with more money than sense but I fail to see this as any kind of breakthru

personally i think its pretty cool. I can think of all sorts of advertising uses

Awesome. MS is really innovative. Once again, i’ve got only one word “AWESOME”

It’s pretty cool, but Microsoft didn’t develop it, they bought it. Let’s see what they come up with for it.

Doesn’t the iPhone have the same thing?

Nick, Simon - You are correct that touchscreen apps have been around for decades. I remember supporting Big Blue’s touchscreen monitors for a major pharma sales training operation in the late ’80’s combined with (Adobe) Macromedia Authorware. The technology works very well already. And, yes, they are very effective interfaces for people who are not comfortable with traditional computing.

The biggest innovation, however, is the multitouch UI which allows manipulation of objects and quicker navigation. Most existing commercial touchscreens are single touch.

A tip of the ice berg….few months ago i saw similar thing on youtube demonstrated by a Researcher…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhMVNdplJc check out the link…

I think you are missing the point here, it’s not the technology, or the spec or anything technical that makes this stand out. Its the interface, the tactile sense of actually moving to make an input. Like the Wii is a movement based games console, the MS Surface is a gesture & touch based device. I for 1 am very excited by this, and as an educationalist see this being great in the classroom.

um…is anyone actually going to come up with an application???

The only one on the video was transferring a picture from a camera to a phone (very quickly and conveniently).

..anything else?

This thing is great. They’ve taken all the best ideas out of the field of table-top human computer interaction and combined them into a really slick package. For those of you who are worried about the cost, Bill Buxton (interaction visionary guy) from MS is convinced that within 10 years we will be able to wallpaper our walls with computer displays as cheaply as we would with normal wallpaper.

Also, if you are interested in reading more about multi-touch systems, Bill has also written a 25 year overview of the field. There is a lot more to it than Apple, MS and Jeff Han:

http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html

That’s the future right there. I’ve previously only seen experimental examples of this type of technology using the likes of Processing.
This is the first truly exciting development to come from MS in a long time.

Neil - And all a bit too quickly and easily for my liking. I’m very cynical about real world performance being anything at all like that.

There is a movie with Tom Cruise in it, he uses one of these. These things will be everywhere in a few years. Imagine being one of the first restaurants to trick your entire bar ouut with these. You would be packed. Imagine the first surface virus!

It reminds me of some of the screen you used to see at Epcot Center about 20 years ago. Except those were more standard vertical as I recall and I am sure this has much better than sensitivity than those did. All in all, a very interesting product for Microsoft’s first time out (even if my first thought when I read the headlines was Bill showed us this 18 months ago).

Well, I was checking out several domain names for Surface & found out that around 12 to 15 good domain names with ’surface’ in it were registered today!

Sorry just don’t see this as useful or super productive. Think about it two handed GUIs take double the interaction that we have now. Consumers want wii like interaction from their comfortable couch. Spinning pictures and objects is only eye candy and no more productive than traditional GUIs.

I can see them adding some of these features to Windows but in reality it would only be eye candy and another $200 upgrade.

On the iPhone these features already exist somewhat because your hands are already near the screen in only makes sense on that kind of handheld device.

http://www.noheat.com

There was an episode of Firefly that used something like this - only the UI was even more cool and Whedony.

Cool technology with great potential if done right as Jeff Han and iPhone have demonstrated, but with Surface…

Who’s gonna sit round a coffee table for any length of time? For me, it’s not the most comfortable way to interact with technology for prolonged periods. I guess if you get lower back pain using the thing you can look up the nearest chiropracter.

Plus, it runs on Vista! Call me INSANE but I’m not going to trust a publicly-used-Vista-running-table to manipulate and transfer data between devices.

I find it interesting that Microsoft would display the Surface videos by using Flash, instead of their new product that is similar to Flash. I guess they are using the most common software to reach the largest audience, instead of promoting their own package. I just find it interesting, that’s all.

The new Microsoft hits again, w00t.

This technology has been touted for ages already, especially since Minority Report. It would really be great if it was made available to the masses, which looks like it’s in the near future. Good news for all geeks!

So exciting.

While the Multi-touch aspect of this is certainly cool, I think that a lot of people have overlooked the wireless sync features among the various devices like the digital camera and the cell phone. If they could incorporate new wireless battery charging technology like this: http://www.splashpower.com/ it would be the ultimate way to interact with our gadgets. Maybe this is the answer to Mark Cuban’s recent concept of a downloadable music kiosk: http://www.blogmaverick.com/20.....ess-again/

I like to be optimistic about new things, but I can’t help be a pessimist here. While failed concepts do come around to succeed again, table-top computing has failed miserably so many times I’d be surprised if Microsoft will be the ones to take it mainstream.

There are significant erognomic challenges beyond mere interaction.. such as that it’s uncomfortable to have to crane over a table to use it, and viewing something at an obtuse angle (such as a table top while sitting) is uncomfortable and impractical. This would work a lot better if it was angled up, but then it’s not a table..

Just my opinion, but this looks like one of those “exciting” concepts that people go nuts over but go nowhere, like pen computing, “push” technology, Internet Explorer 4’s desktop interaction, 3DO, Microsoft Bob, etc.. of course, it may significantly influence later successes, like each of these.

Wow, shows the depth of implementation behind Microsoft and the attention to details. I think it clearly shows that not everything is going to be slow and web based. In addition, that not everything nice in going to be Apple.

I am missing some Video Cam applications (multi-location collaboration) like being able to sit at my home provide my services, charge for my time by dragging the other person’s credit card - left on his/her table - to my cash register (kind of a BitWine Taskbar on steroids), not to mention the whole tele-working collaborative environment.

It seems that the HW setup maybe a bit expensive i.e. computer, cameras projector and the heat dissipation and noise associated with that. I am sure they will get over that hurdle eventually.

I think Microsoft is finally getting what Apple got long ago, it is not only what you can do with the computer (clearly the most important element) but, you need the “cool” factor attached to that to make many people really appreciate, and better connect with the application and the vendor.

Learn how to make your own multi-touch table: nuigroup.com/forums

A gigantic piece of dedicated, immobile hardware that uses closed, proprietary software? No thank you.

If I wanted a huge piece of nostalgia hardware in my living room, I’d buy a Cray computer, replete with cooling fluid fountain, on ebay.

To Nic (#30), are you REALLY comparing a touchscreen from the 70’s to this thing ?

If we all thought like you did, innovation would have stopped in the 70’s.

I remember discussing something that looked very like this at HP Pinewood in 1979. The market was graphic designers.

multi touch around since the 70’s = patent is expired.

- anyone and everyone .. I want a open source … and cheap input devices

- Also / Why can’t the next gen TV remote / be functianal like the wii remote.

Perceptive Pixel technology being used by MS?

http://allanjosephbatac.com/bl.....pixel.html

OR are they competitors in this space?

It’s a true public computer, not “personal” one!

While this looks awesome, I cant help but to think of all the potential problems it might have because of Microsoft.

Despite that, at least MS is innovating.

No, i think it`s could be personal… in your room

Sweet… but is it just a pipe dream?

I like the sync feature, but that could actually be implemented much better using “in the cloud” storage when WiMax (or some other ubiquitous cover-all internet) becomes a reality. When it boils down to it, that’s what this surface computer is really all about - syncing.

Hmm… the multi-touch kind of makes me wonder. With the rash of people sticking their bare ass on copy machines in the 80’s and early 90’s, I wonder if Microsoft’s device will be the next one to get “assed” - that multi-point touch screen is mighty tempting…

I wonder if surface-to-ass syncing is possible? Gives new meaning to “you can shove those photos up your ass”

Okay, okay… I’m done

Cant we shrink this thing to fit into a pocket and call it “Pune” ?

I think another thing that is NOT mentioned here is how this device works - it works by using infra red sensors to detect objects on the screen.

This is a LOT more powerful than using traditional touch-screen overlays because they can be scratched. IE. Traditional touch screen puts a layer of touch sensing material that if you scratched its surface, it would get messed up. I think in this device, the surface is just glass and the sensor is underneath it, making it more impervious to scratches.

Anyways, everyone talks about Minority Report, but the “real” application that came to mind was in “The Island”.

yikes… my lower-back just aches looking at this thing. What are the ergonomic repercussions of using something like this, even as a 20 minute coffee table session of photo viewing and the like.

“This technology has a tremendous business potential. iPhone is *NOTHING* compared to this!”

I take it you’ve used both devices?

An interesting take on the subject at http://anitokid.blogspot.com/2.....osoft.html.
And I kid you not! http://www.anitokid.blogspot.com

There is only one killer app that this thing needs to sell:

Audio/Video Mixing Board

Once they get that on there these things will sell!

Man, this thing looks like a demo from the MIT MediaLab. I’m sure MSFT took some inspiration from the Tangible Media Group (and others) there.

This is a great step forward to more flexible computing. If MS succeeds with this it could do a lot to prevent to prevent repititve stress injuries while making computing a more physically beneficial activity.

As much as i dislike MS appropriating others ideas, I’m crossing my fingers on this one and hope it gains immediate traction like the Wii and flat panel tvs.

For a really great demonstration of where this is all going by Jeff Han that was done in 2006, check out his TedTalk at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/65.

This is super cool… MS has finally started doing some real innovation again!

I was especially impressed by the fact that they’ve finally learned from apple and have started focusing on user experience… also check PopFly-their mashup tool.

The only thing MS needs to change now are bad business practices (like ignoring google tools in PopFly)… they should seriously start playing fair and people might just start loving them again.

#85 brought up a very good point about 1 killer app that makes sense. If they could develop a virtual Audio/Video mixing board on that thing….it will definitely sell like hot cakes. Just imagine it, dragging faders, turning knobs and pushing buttons on it, being able to add channels on the fly as you need. Even the ability to pull out a virtual MIDI keyboard and play on it….now that is killer!

For all those Microsoft Haters (or iFanBoys out there)

Microsoft is loved by every human in the world other than your 100 friends who are also iFanBoys and those 100 iFanboys have 99 friends similar to your list…that makes a grand total of 101 geniuses who hate Microsoft and think that they are not innovative….

Surface Rules…

amazing! hehehehe *speechless*

This can be more interesting if they develop a ‘portable’ one. It is amazing though.

It’s not exactly “innovative” or “new”. I’ve seen this exact concept in scifi movies over the last couple decades. It’s pretty much a direct rip off of Minority Report. Or… it might’ve been The Island. Or both.

Still, pretty awesome someone’s making it real, and it’s interesting to examine how scifi effects real technologies. Unfortunately it had to be the company with a history of anti-competitive business practices, and etc. It’s a shame innovation is so often profit-driven; it’d be great if ideas and inventions were more open source.

@J Crowley

Ass, Transformer is coming out on 4th July. You will definitely see something more innovative than in Minority Report.

Haha, well, I was just using it as an example. My point was more that this idea has been floating around in scifi in general for quite a while. I wonder if/when there will ever come a point where the line between science fiction and science fact no longer exists. Of course, a touchscreen table from Microsoft isn’t exactly a giant leap in that direction, but it brings the idea to mind.

Anyway, definitely looking forward to Transformers.

Not all that innovative. Surf YouTube for “reac table.”

i wonder when will they have a PC version.

The demo site is impressive, but they make it look too flawless. They show a group of friends coming over and slapping down their Zunes and trading songs like they were flicking soap bubbles. Considering that Leprosy is more popular than Zune (I’ve never even seen two Zunes in the same zip code), I suppose you can flick songs to yourself. But, it’s definitely a cool demo. It just kind of smells like a Segway scooter though — very cool, but nobody’s going to actually pay to own one. You’ll probably just see them in hotels and restaurants.

My major question would be what OS does this thing run? If it’s got Vista blood in it, I’d be very wary. But, if it is something completely new, it begs the question as to how Vista can ever realistically move to multi-touch.

I think what’s interesting to note, particularly from reading Bill Buxton’s history of multi-touch, is that Apple purchased FingerWorks a few years back — which was a pioneer in multi-touch technology.

Clearly Apple has already put the basic multi-touch funtionality into the iPhone, but I think what’s more striking is that Apple is clearly priming OS X’s interface for multi-touch effects (Spring-loaded folders, the drag-drop effects on and off the Dock, fast-user switching effects, graceful widget-flips, OpenGL, WebKit, etc.). It looks as if Apple has been building the multi-touch effects into OS X for years.

I’m fairly certain that Vista does not have what it takes to do multi-touch interfacing cleanly — it’s too clunky and really solely engineered for mouse interfacing. Plus, Vista can barely even talk to Zune’s properly half the time. My guess is that Microsoft will go after the “clunky restaurant table market” and Apple will actually create portable OS X multi-touch computers that ditch keyboards and mice altogether.

Microsoft will bring it out, linux will perfect it.

I’m sure we’ll see the same thing happen here that happened to the Operating systems. IE: vista’s AERO interface, vs. Linux’s BERYL.

Does anyone remember Apple’s Knowledge Navigator?
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WdS4TscWH8

The ergonomics of it has to be top on. Imagine staring “down” a screen for 2hrs or more. Think it’s brilliant tech but ergomically poor.

good but not much impressive

well, I was just using it as an example. My point was more that this idea has been floating around in scifi in general for quite a while. I wonder if/when there will ever come a point where the line between science fiction and science fact no longer exists. Of course, a touchscreen table from Microsoft isn’t exactly a giant leap in that direction, but it brings the idea to mind.

Hi,
I am jai from CNS Infotech Delhi INDIA.
well, I was just using it as an example. My point was more that this idea has been floating around in scifi in general for quite a while. I wonder if/when there will ever come a point where the line between science fiction and science fact no longer exists. Of course, a touchscreen table from Microsoft isn’t exactly a giant leap in that direction, but it brings the idea to mind.

This is super cool… MS has finally started doing some real innovation again!

This really isn’t that innovative.

These guys built their own system in just over two years. The entire project is open source and your can build your own own multi-touch, object positioning and orientation surface using off the shelf parts.

http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/?media

Microsoft Surface Fansite available at http://surfacefans.net/