So what will Microsofts "Surface Mean for Apple/Leopard
Microsoft has unveiled a new touch-sensitive coffee table-shaped computer called "Surface".
Althought theres nothing to see on M$ home page (WOW that site is fugly) at the moment, the BBC are running this story HERE but, is it a joke?
Engadget has pictures of the UI and I have to say some of those buttons look very like the tabs on Apples site, but we might expect that.
Althought theres nothing to see on M$ home page (WOW that site is fugly) at the moment, the BBC are running this story HERE but, is it a joke?
Engadget has pictures of the UI and I have to say some of those buttons look very like the tabs on Apples site, but we might expect that.
Comments
Microsoft has unveiled a new touch-sensitive coffee table-shaped computer called "Surface".
Althought theres nothing to see on M$ home page (WOW that site is fugly) at the moment, the BBC are running this story HERE but, is it a joke?
Engadget has pictures of the UI and I have to say some of those buttons look very like the tabs on Apples site, but we might expect that.
It is not a joke, similiar products have been available from specialist companies for a while now, even Philips Electronics offers them.
This does seem to be the first full-scale media offensive to get them to mass-adoption-stage.
I myself am still sceptical, typing on such a surface would seem to be awfully bad for your finger joints in the long run, so software would need a major redesign in order to avoid written communication/feedback/input)
It has a huge gadget/wannahave-factor though.
My guess would be that apple is now working at the software stage, underlying paradigms, libraries and such. Apple is trying the waters with iphone/ipod, and will slowly bring the tech to macs over the coming years while third-party developers scramble to wrap their heads around the implications.
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/
I don't know what to think about it, it looks cool. But they repeat the business about no keyboard and no mouse so often I have to ask: The pretty pictures being manipulated is cute, the finger paint is cute, the brush is cute, but how do I email my pretty picture? What sort of data input is there? Where do the pictures come in? How do I send something out? And of course, when I tried to read the FAQ and fact sheets, the info scroll doesn't work...
In the opening splash, a girl sits down in front of the surface and puts her cup of coffee right on the edge of it!
Surface:
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/
In the opening splash, a girl sits down in front of the surface and puts her cup of coffee right on the edge of it!
They did specifically mention that it's scratch-proof and water-resistant. It would have to be, in table-top concept.
I'll tell you one thing. That operating system does not look like a Windows operating system. It couldn't be. It looks like something completely new. Can't wait to see more details.
To do things on Surface?s tabletop screen, you reach down, touch it and push it. To make the image you see on the screen bigger, spread your fingers. To make it smaller, squeeze your fingers together. To move something into the trash, push it into the trash with your hand. And it allows what Microsoft calls ?Multi-Touch? and ?Multi-User? interaction ? namely, more than one person can interact with it at a time. Try that with your home computer.
Here is the full article:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/18928656
First, I guess I misunderstood...I thought "multi-touch" was an Apple name...trademarked. Obviosuly not.
Of course, I love how the bias of the author shows..."what Microsoft calls Multi-touch." That one made my blood boil. No mention of the Apple iPhone, which does the same thing with the interface for the most part. Oh...and you just have to love Microsoft's name from the M$ Lame Name Department: Surface.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/tech...y/4217348.html
Steve Jobs leaning against his iPod hifi:
[loud, angry voice]
"Bill, you're stealing our stuff again"
Bill Gates
[Smarmy grin]
"Who cares Steve.. we got there first.. again!"
If Apple has nothing in this area I think it may have an effect my iPhone decision. I was planning on getting one, but....
If Apple doesn't offer a $10k coffee table, you're not getting an iPhone?
Whaaaaaaaaaa?
Except maybe Apple. But if MS has an easy to use SDK based on .NET development of true multi-touch applications (not just multi-touch compatible) will be windows centric...and for good reason.
MS hasn't been shy about releasing SDKs so I would hope that we get to see Surface ones soon.
Vinea
You guys are missing the important aspect of Surface. Yes the hardware is 10K right now but it appears that MS has multi-touch support for some variant of Vista that outside of some very proprietary companies (like Jeff Han's) and a few HCI labs no one really has.
Except maybe Apple. But if MS has an easy to use SDK based on .NET development of true multi-touch applications (not just multi-touch compatible) will be windows centric...and for good reason.
MS hasn't been shy about releasing SDKs so I would hope that we get to see Surface ones soon.
Vinea
Apple has the technology, Jeff Han has the technology, Philips and Samsung have the technology, it was developed in academia, everyone can develop their own implementation or licence from one of the pioneering companies.
What Apple has patented (presumably pending) is their specific interface, but the paradigm was invented by Jeff Han, so presumably he can licence it to anyone.
Apple will probably have the underlying libraries, since the iphone runs osX. They should be able to publish their development framework relatively easy.
Microsoft is showing that they are not to be left behind, which is a suprise to some, but considering their R&D budget not a real earth-shattering revelation.
Okay, I'd buy that, except that I haven't seen any video, info, or pictures that show Vista or anything remotely Vista-like running on the beast. Just a very Han/iPhone-esque UI. Why do you think that this is a Vista unit?
In an earlier interview they said that it was running atop Vista. So its likely another layer like MS' tablet pc ink layer or their multi-mouse support layer underlying some custom UI they built.
Vinea
If Apple doesn't offer a $10k coffee table, you're not getting an iPhone?
Whaaaaaaaaaa?
It's gong to boil down to who is at the center of your system. You may as well stay with your main platform. If your house is centered around microsoft technology your better off sticking with it.
Apple has the technology, Jeff Han has the technology, Philips and Samsung have the technology, it was developed in academia, everyone can develop their own implementation or licence from one of the pioneering companies.
What Apple has patented (presumably pending) is their specific interface, but the paradigm was invented by Jeff Han, so presumably he can licence it to anyone.
Apple will probably have the underlying libraries, since the iphone runs osX. They should be able to publish their development framework relatively easy.
Microsoft is showing that they are not to be left behind, which is a suprise to some, but considering their R&D budget not a real earth-shattering revelation.
Jeff Han didn't invent multi-touch. There has been ongoing research for a long long time on gesture/multi-touch interfaces. Look up StarFire and Tog for a vision of multitouch from 1992. THAT was built on prior research and thought...some at Xerox, some at Apple and some in academia.
If I have a minor annoyance it's that Sun could have delivered on this stuff probably 5 years ago had they kept the HCI visionaries and researchers they had. MS might have joined that game later but their research division still has some really good HCI folks Not as flamboyant as say Tog of the 80s-90s or Jeff Han of today but smart smart people.
If you know of a multi-touch library that does more than give you blobs I'd be interested. Meaning the type of stuff that you see in MS and Jeff Han's demos with applications, not just the x,y locations of where your fingers are.
Most of the companies that own this software technology is keeping it in house for competitive advantage. However, in the case of MS it is to their competitive advantage to release exciting new SDKs to get folks into (or stay in) the MS ecosystem.
The question is how far along the Surface SDK is and if they will release it sooner rather than later.
Vinea
Second, the term "multi-touch" has been around as a generic descriptor for quite a while, despite Steve Jobs making it sound like it was some kind of 'exclusive' to Apple.
It's nice to see Microsoft pushing this, despite there never being a product at the end of the tunnel... it just means that Apple will beat them to a real product intro by several years.
http://www.asktog.com/starfire/index.html
It's gong to boil down to who is at the center of your system. You may as well stay with your main platform. If your house is centered around microsoft technology your better off sticking with it.
Of course, you're probably even better off not centering your house around MS tech...
Kioskware