Microsoft Surfuce: Revolutionary Computer of the Future

Wow. When I saw this, I think I drooled a little. Remember the computer from "Minority Report"? The one Tom Cruise was manipulating by moving objects on the screen around just by moving his hands across its surface? Believe it or not, it’s been built. Five years in the making, Microsoft Surface is one of Gates final projects as head of Microsoft and possibly the beginning of a revolutionary shift in computing. An article over at MSN tells of a reporter’s first encounter with the Surface computer and I would have given anything to trade places with him! (And you HAVE TO watch the video!!)

The MSN article states that Microsoft Surface starts with an impact-resistant plastic top skin on top of a table that houses "five infrared scanners, a projector and a wireless modem. The scanners recognize objects and shapes placed on the top and respond to them accordingly. For example, if the scanners recognize fingers, and the fingers have been placed in color circles that appear on the surface, the projector shows colored lines that follow the tracings and movements of your fingers. Meanwhile, an internal modem sends and receives signals from any electronic device placed on it. All of the hardware is run by a special version of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista."

To manipulate objects on the screen, you touch the object on the screen - you push it, you pull it; to make an object larger, you spread your fingers out; to make it smaller, you squeeze your fingers together. Even better, more than one person can touch the screen at the same time and have it respond. The Microsoft Surface computer also "sees" wi-fi enabled objects placed atop the screen. For example, if you were to place an wi-fi camera or video recorder, the Surface pulls the images or videos out of the camera for you and places them on the screen for you to move, edit, email, etc. In the video, Gates even demonstrates how the Surface could be used at a restaurant - ordering items from the menu, then placing your credit card on the table and dragging pictures from the menu towards your card while other pictures are moved towards the other credit card placed on the table. There was even a slider to adjust for the tip amount and a button to "pay" for the meal.

Here’s the best part about Microsoft Surface: it’s being released this winter! Of course, due to the expense, this is not a consumer product (yet). The Microsoft Surface website states that the computer has been designed for use by commercial partners like retailers, hotels, restaurants, and public entertainment venues. The partners listed on the website are Harrah’s Entertainment, IGT, T-Mobile, and Sheraton. I cannot wait to try this for myself!