Any questions for Surface Computing team?
I’m talking with the Surface Computing team at Microsoft in the morning. Got any questions for them?
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Robert Scoble works at Fast Company.TV (title: Managing Director). Everything here, though, is his personal opinion and is not read or approved before it is posted. No warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions or anything else offered here.
rscoble@fastcompany.com
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May 30th, 2007 at 12:29 am
What other form factors do you see this expanding into?
What’s your favorite application of the tech so far?
Have you apologized to the Silverlight team? :)
May 30th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Well, more of a question for the Brand Manager that helped them launch their product. Why did they miss so many domain names?
http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/05/microsoft-surface-computers-and-their-domain-secrets/
May 30th, 2007 at 12:39 am
“Are you absolutely sure that this has not been done before?” (you can refer to 3d desktop in Vista that they claimed it is the first 3d desktop ever).
May 30th, 2007 at 12:39 am
It obviously will be compatible to Microsoft Partners, but what sort of 3rd party support will they have? Will they be releasing a sort of API allowing anyone to develop applications?
May 30th, 2007 at 12:42 am
What kind of (new) OS is in it
When can we expect a first price drop
What kind of hardware is used
Are there some known problems, or things that can’t be done with the surface computer?
How is it related to Jeff Han’s device?
May 30th, 2007 at 12:45 am
3D?
May 30th, 2007 at 12:47 am
Jaap–I think I read somewhere that it uses a modified version of Vista. But I really don’t know. I’ll post the link if I find it again…
May 30th, 2007 at 12:55 am
1. Why did they choose the market they did? While the ultra rich can afford anything, this seems like a classic ’sony’ style marketing blunder.
If Apple indeed does announce a similar ‘touch’ product that costs less but is more accessible, programmable, and like-able, will this be the PS3 to the seemingly unstoppable Wii?
[I know it's alot of "if" style probability, but what the hay, it's late and i just kicked out a post about a BLT. If I can write about a delicious BLT with avocado at night, anything is possible =) ]
May 30th, 2007 at 12:56 am
I have one… Considering this is a serious mix of hardware, software, new GUI and apps, where’s going to be the focus in the short term?
I mean, trying to get this to be use in your kitchen’s fridge? Making the GUI better and better? Inviting developers and manufacturers to add their “widgets” to the platform?
Sorry for my English, I’m sure you’ll find a better way of asking what I mean.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:09 am
Ask them if they’re familiar with the PLATO project, which your old boss Ray Ozzie cut his teeth on at the University of Illiois:
“By the early 1970’s the PLATO IV terminal would incorporate touch sensitive screens that would allow you to interact with the onscreen data in a manner similar to a mouse - literally allowing you to drag and move objects on [a plasma] screen.”
http://www.classicgaming.com/features/articles/computergaminghistory/index5.shtml
May 30th, 2007 at 1:11 am
In one of the Surface site’s clips, the guy puts two mobile phones on the Surface, and the specs for the phones are displayed.
“Now the phones practically introduce themselves”
So the questions are:
- how does the Surface identify which phone is placed on it?
- by which means the Surface connects to other devices (bluetooth/infrared/wireless/visual scanning/…)?
May 30th, 2007 at 1:17 am
What’s the estimated price?
May 30th, 2007 at 1:18 am
Tomi, I heard it was bluetooth, but now that you mention this, it would be great to also know how is the interaction with the credit cards, as seen on the shot where they distribute the bill.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:21 am
[... Scoble will be talking to the guys from the Surface team in the morning so head here with questions on what'd like to know... ]
Ping back from Samiq Bits
May 30th, 2007 at 1:28 am
How did they keep it secret for so long?
May 30th, 2007 at 1:39 am
How will this be any different than the Segway? (grandiose expectations, still relatively nothing several years after release)
May 30th, 2007 at 1:44 am
Do they plan to version the device, say to turn the table on a TV (for IPTV for example) or playing games? I am imagining something that I could spin, then I could either have a table, a displaying for photos or a game console (for I suppose it will be browser compatible and X-Box compatible).
May 30th, 2007 at 1:50 am
when can we expect to see some of ’spin off’ technology onto small devices such as ‘tablet pc’, umpc and windows mobile?
jon
May 30th, 2007 at 1:56 am
Hi
In the demo video you can see waiter putting a glass on the ‘table’. In the real (i.e. not demo) world that can be quite an impact. Also, condensation of air cooled down by the cold glass will cause water to materialize on the (I guess somewhat warm) surface.
So the question is, how tough is the surface for robust operation in real enviroments.
Thanks.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:59 am
Is it true that it works with flash player? What about Silverligth?
May 30th, 2007 at 2:06 am
In what ways do they see touch computing enhancing PC tasks? In what ways is a traditional interface superior (if at all)?
May 30th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Will they be integrating a version of Windows Live Search with tiled screenshots of websites?
May 30th, 2007 at 2:15 am
the estimated price i’ve read is $5000 to $10000 for those asking, they’re looking at a price drop to consumer level within 3-5 years.
May 30th, 2007 at 2:19 am
Aha, there’s an answer to my question in Robert’s previous post:
“Easy, each chip has an invisible bar code in infrared-reflecting ink.”
Yep, stick that bar code to the back of the mobile phone…
May 30th, 2007 at 2:32 am
When do we get the SDK? :-)
May 30th, 2007 at 2:41 am
Will it be open or will it only work with MS (Zune and MS smartphones) products?
May 30th, 2007 at 3:12 am
Q: Why only 1Ghz machine running it, and not a Core2 etc?
Q: Because of the projector/cameras, is there any way of making it shallower? (and quieter!)
Q: Any patent issues with perceptive pixel? (jef Hann)
Q: Programming: how does it deal with concurrency? multithreaded? using the .NET CCR for multicore?
Q: Outside of America this year?
May 30th, 2007 at 3:25 am
Why didn’t they use Silverlight for their site? It’s Flash. Quite funny really.
May 30th, 2007 at 3:37 am
“Why didn’t they use Silverlight for their site? It’s Flash. Quite funny really.”
Maybe because they wanted people to talk about the technology and not just moan about having to install the silverlight plug-in.
May 30th, 2007 at 3:38 am
Fascinating development, how long before this technology trickles down to portable and mobile devices?
I’d love to just wave at a Tablet PC to bring up a browser or check email and tap to delete spam.
May 30th, 2007 at 3:56 am
“Yep, stick that bar code to the back of the mobile phone…”
Think you’ll find it’s bluetooth… you’re forgetting the data transfer, if not then WiFi
May 30th, 2007 at 3:56 am
Will they be releasing non-table screens, perhaps just the screen itself that we can plug into our own computers?
May 30th, 2007 at 4:02 am
When will this cross the pond to the UK?
Will this new technology be available to schools & education?
We are, after all teaching the next gen of Computer users, we should be teaching them with new technology Surely?
May 30th, 2007 at 4:23 am
Doesn’t look like it Will(at least not initially), they have spent a lot of time in development of what the actual system will look like. it’s also rear projection hence the size of the system and features multiple cameras to track the multitouch input.
May 30th, 2007 at 4:46 am
OK, here goes. I can see touch computing being useful in a car GPS or on the go. BUT, how do they justify somebody eating a bucket of fried chicken then using a touch screen on a PC?
Or even a touch pad.
When I am using my laptop, I can’t stand the pad and always have to plug a mouse in. How can they get around that annoyance?
I also don’t like tablets.
May 30th, 2007 at 4:50 am
In the clips we can see using this table-device at home, so my questions are:
- did they consider raising of backache ratio? there will be pain-killing pills in the retail box?
- which protections against the typical cleaning-guy triggering disaster? (and dust&dirt problem of course)
- what if my kid would fingering with marmalade (or throwing up on) while I’m doing an online transaction.
joking (not-so-much-indeed) about relevance of ergonomics deals in a multi-touch screen table :)
what do they think about?
May 30th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Is this really such a bad question or was erased by mistake? –> “Do they plan to version the device, say to turn the table on a TV (for IPTV for example) or playing games? I am imagining something that I could spin, then I could either have a table, a displaying for photos or a game console (for I suppose it will be browser compatible and X-Box compatible).”
May 30th, 2007 at 5:01 am
What’s the resolution of the display? (I read 1000 x 800)
When will HD or higher resolutions
be available? (HD DLPs exist)
What about technical computing scenarios?
May 30th, 2007 at 5:03 am
Three questions I’d like asked. Probably only one good one. Here goes:
1) Intellectual property… touch interfaces are the technology for June 2007. Apple’s already said they will defend the IP in the iPhone vigorously. Any concerns over IP overlaps here? If so… who should be concerned?
2) GREAT freakin logo! Something’s changed at MS. Product names are getting a little better. But logos (SeaDragon, Photosynth, Deepfish) are getting way better. What’s the deal?
3) The intro isn’t built in Silverlight. What decision process went into the choice you made. (That’s borderline impolite. I’m sorry. But, it’s a glaring deal. To me anyway.)
May 30th, 2007 at 5:07 am
People, people! Tabletop computing is not a new idea. This kind of research has been going on for years! Credit to the MS team for doing an ace job but bear in mind that they are standing on the shoulders of giants…
May 30th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Ask them why it took so long…
…and how I can get my hands on one without spending a small fortune. :-)
May 30th, 2007 at 5:34 am
Bring it home and I’ll care!
meantime…
z z z z z z z z z
May 30th, 2007 at 5:52 am
Is this a proof of concept, or ready to roll?
May 30th, 2007 at 6:14 am
When can we expect to see consumer oriented devices using this technology? ie. when will we see surface tech desks, coffee tables that cost under 5k?
May 30th, 2007 at 6:27 am
How does this compare to Philips’ “Entertaible”? It was announced over a year ago. See http://blogs.extremeoptimization.com/jeffrey/archive/2006/01/28/6678.aspx
May 30th, 2007 at 6:29 am
What kind of developer support is there? Does this run WPF apps? .NET?
May 30th, 2007 at 6:35 am
Is it possible to “network” the surfaces and buy advertising on the network? For example, in Starwood Hotels or at T-Mobile stores.
May 30th, 2007 at 6:39 am
There is an open source community forming around multi-touch surfaces. Will Microsoft be working with the community?
May 30th, 2007 at 6:59 am
Multi-touch with WPF: in .NET 3.5?
May 30th, 2007 at 7:10 am
“Why?”
May 30th, 2007 at 7:34 am
* Why is this Surface product indicated to be a stand alone product and not just a cool feature that licensee’s can incoprporate into their own hardware?
* It seems MicroSoft is moving to the model of self produced, integrated Software and Hardware. (XBox, Zune). What are the benefits of this shift in business model and what does it portend for the Windows liscencee’s.
May 30th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Why isn’t this really cool thing splashed all over the Microsoft Website? Instead the MSoft website looks like a really poorly designed insurance salesman website.
May 30th, 2007 at 7:45 am
All the prestine demos show are by people who have had lots of time to play with them so it looks very cool and natural. However, how does MS expect Joe-Hotel/Casino/Restaurant-Dweller to know the drag semantics? WPF opened up the opportunity to break all the UI standardisation Microsoft has created. Surface adds a whole new level of possible confusion.
May 30th, 2007 at 7:45 am
Re. Detection of physical items on Surface.
Does it work with (human-eye) invisible barcodes only ?
What about RFID or visible 2D/color barcodes ?
MS recently introduced their own barcode standard so I was wondering…
http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2007/apr07/04-16MSBarCodePR.mspx
May 30th, 2007 at 7:46 am
1. can it replace original PC? such as using for media, internet and documents?
2. use a web to access my content from newer in the world?
3. if and how will it interact with gaming such as with the 360?
4. use it to connect with a TV?
May 30th, 2007 at 7:48 am
wen will this be released to the wider public? can i use it instead of buying a new PC?
May 30th, 2007 at 7:58 am
How can they differentiate between two smartphones placed on the Surface? I get that they can communicate to each device with Bluetooth/etc., but how do they physically know which phone is which when the Surface user interface is interacting with the phone?
May 30th, 2007 at 7:59 am
What differentiates the Surface product from a 32″ touchscreen available on the market for $800?
Also, why aren’t they using Silverlight for their web site in addition to flash?
Where do I find the technical specs & developer toolkit?
How do you keep it clean?
May 30th, 2007 at 8:06 am
I would be interested to know what other applications are envisioned for surface.
Also, is there a marketing/partnering strategy for avoiding this being a “bigger origami”. Origami looked like the coolest thing out there, and, in practice, it ended up being a UMPC running Vista, with no real apps to accompany the form factor. I guess the question is, how is Microsoft going to transition surface from an amazing demo to a consumer device, if that is even the intent.
May 30th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Despite whatever history of dev might be involved, it looks like a dream about what the iPhone will do in a shipping product (on a small scale).
May 30th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Asking how it is related to Jeff Han’s device is good. Also, what’s the likelihood that this tech will spread out of E&D into other Microsoft platforms? I don’t think it’s a stretch to call multitouch (er, Surface) a disruptive technology, and exposing it to every Windows developer can only make great things happen. Finally, I can’t tell if this was announced at WinHEC, and if it wasn’t, why not?
May 30th, 2007 at 8:22 am
What to do in this case:
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=521201549&size=l
May 30th, 2007 at 8:30 am
I want to watch someone clean it with windex….
May 30th, 2007 at 8:35 am
While the whole “Touch Surface” UI has a great WOW factor, it would be impractical, indeed a pain, for the user to move his/her hands all over the surface to get any “real” work done.
The most common input devices localize input to keyboard/mouse. Does Microsoft Surface have a “touch” keyboard/mouse or something similar for those of us don’t want to have to wave our arms around and reaching all over the area of the UI to get work done?
May 30th, 2007 at 8:45 am
It’s a freaking glass table! Looks like this thing can break pretty easily. Drop something on it and poof, it’s shattered. This has Segway written all over it!!!
May 30th, 2007 at 8:57 am
Is it okay to pet on a first date?
(Extra points for the movie reference that line comes from)
May 30th, 2007 at 9:29 am
To echo #4 above:
When can we get the SDK?
and
When can I buy one for development/research purposes?
May 30th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Jeff Han’s multi touch experiment focused on this along time ago (see youtube for example).
I also don’t really like the demo at the MS site given they are doing things in this which don’t seem achievable. E.g placing a random phone on the screen and obtaining data. *Even* if bluetooth or wireless were active it takes time to connect and transfer and this isnt shown. Dont even get me started on the credit card stuff.
May 30th, 2007 at 9:34 am
$10,000 for a 21st Century Etch-a-Sketch? Or is Microsoft actually building a working model of the Enterprise on the back lot?
May 30th, 2007 at 9:40 am
How was Jeff Han involved? Is he working at Microsoft? Has Microsoft paid royalties on the IP to his company?
On another note, how does Microsoft garner the press for a product that was ripped off from someone else?
May 30th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Jeff Han isn’t involved. This has been under development for five years. Jeff isn’t the only one working on this kind of stuff.
May 30th, 2007 at 9:58 am
I don’t know how Jeff Han is directly involved but his demos of multitouch experiments are strikingly similar to MS’s Surface, specifically the photo demos of movement and resizing.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysEVYwa-vHM
May 30th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Knowing how many people xerox their buttocks, is there any fear people will start to sit on this thing?
May 30th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Bill Buxton’s history of Multi-Touch
Here’s a multi-touch history link I don’t want to lose. Lots of folks believe that Jeff Han invented Multi-Touch.
Not so much. Look at Krueger’s 1983 Video Place/Video Desk…not so bad for 24 years ago eh?
I had a few of these …
May 30th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Jeff Han…*sigh*
Here’s Buxton’s excellent history on multitouch:
http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html
and a discussion on the iPhone by Tog (who I’m sure will weigh in on Surface soon enough)
http://www.asktog.com/columns/070iPhoneFirstLook.html
May 30th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Microsoft and Apple AND a myriad of other companies have patents in this area, this is just the first major product to be going to market… unless you count the iPhone … but I believe this will be out first?
May 30th, 2007 at 11:31 am
What kind of tweaks / versions of WPF does this use?
May 30th, 2007 at 11:47 am
When will they move beyond “projection” to lcd/ digatizers.
When will this be available for anyone to use/develop with?
May 30th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Josh: they can’t use LCD because of the way the cameras work. They need to have access to the surface to sense what’s being put on the surface.
It’ll be installed in first commercial accounts later this year.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
what do yo use Sistem operation in this surface ?
May 30th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
In a future, you can play all kind of VideoGames? (FPS, MMORPG, RPG…)
Thanks.
May 31st, 2007 at 1:47 am
Good sirs, how come there’s so much Surface Computing, and so little dnb in your organization?
June 14th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
What time needs to release to the source code of Microsoft Surface Proyect? thank´s
June 18th, 2007 at 1:15 am
Hello,
is the UI going to be programmed with….maybe WPF? Are there out any document talking about its architecture? Thank you :)
Javier
June 18th, 2007 at 1:17 am
Hello again,
I’m a Microsoft Evangelist too, I would like to know how Visual Studio is thought to be part of this new technology. Thank you,
Javier
August 7th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
can any one help to know me abt the technical aspects of surface computing my id is mustufa_vin@yahoo.com
January 11th, 2008 at 12:21 am
how can we specify our email address while sending pictures/images using surface computing