Microsoft Surface - Technology That You Can Feel

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Remember the film Minority Report starring Tom Cruise and Colin Farrel. The 2002 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg was set in the year 2054, where a special police department called “Precrime” apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge, provided by three psychics termed “precogs“. While the movie depicted a number of technologies related to the film’s theme, most of them seemed quite far-fetched if imagined in today’s world.

The image depicted above was one of the main attractions of the movie and the film audiences were quite awed by the sight of such a technology. Well, it might sound surprising but in the next 5 years or so, such a technology could actually become a reality, thanks to something known as Surface Computing. Surface computing is the term for the use of a specialized computer GUI in which traditional GUI elements are replaced by intuitive, everyday objects. Instead of a keyboard and mouse, the user interacts directly with a touch-sensitive screen. It has been said that this more closely replicates the familiar hands-on experience of everyday object manipulation.

Surface computing by it’s definition seems to be an amazing technology which could really change the way people live. “Imagine a world where you can walk into your favorite restaurant and navigate through the menu displayed on the surface of your table. You can choose any item that you like and instantly an array of options are available at your fingertips. For instance, say you wish to try the Chicken Sizzler. As soon as you touch the menu option you are shown a picture of how the sizzler would look like, you can look at videos of the dish being made, it’s calorific and nutritional value, the number of people who order that dish per day etc. And that’s not it, at the end of your mail you can just place your credit card on the table and complete the transaction, sounds really amazing doesn’t it “.

The video below shows a real life implementation of such a technology that has been brought to life by Microsoft. Microsoft Surface (Codename: Milan), is a Multi-touch product from Microsoft which is developed as a software and hardware combination technology that allows a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of natural motions, hand gestures, or physical objects. It was announced on May 29, 2007 at the D5. Initial customers will be in the hospitality businesses, such as restaurants, hotels, retail, public entertainment venues and the military for tactical overviews. The preliminary launch was on April 17, 2008, when Surface became available for customer use in AT&T stores. Surface is also being used in the CBS series CSI: MIAMI, where the crime lab uses it for investigation purposes, the MSNBC coverage of the 2008 US presidential election, Disneyland’s future home exhibits, and various hotels and casinos.

The product idea for Surface was initially conceptualized in 2001 by Steven Bathiche of Microsoft Hardware and Andy Wilson of Microsoft Research. It’s amazing to see how Microsoft has managed to create such a cool technology using a highly buggy and much criticized OS like Windows Vista as Surface is essentially a Windows Vista PC tucked inside a table, topped with a 30-inch reflective surface in a clear acrylic frame.

The last few years haven’t really seen any great innovations from Microsoft, but Surface seems to be something revolutionary. So while the first decade of the 21^st century probably belonged to Google and Apple, the next might see MS coming back with a bang.

Tags: microsoft, surface, tom, cruise, windows, vista, future, technology, feel, touch, revolutionary, apple, google

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posted by krisdhingra in Tech |