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Microsoft Surface Consumer Version - Coming Soon

There has been much hullabaloo since the previous year when Microsoft announced the introduction of its much prestigious project Microsoft Surface also called MS Surface. Technology lovers all over the world applauded the innovation of this coffee table-sized interactive medium, which promises to take business experience to a different level.

In view of the wide response and enthusiasm, MS Surface has generated, Steve Ballmer. CEO, Microsoft has indicated in a recent statement that Microsoft is considering a consumer version of the Surface computer. Although the MS Surface on introduction revealed its plan to use the technology widely in hotels, restaurants and retails, it further reiterated that a consumer version would make the technology more accessible to the masses.

The Microsoft CEO here scripts it as a decision marked by the mass-market response the tabletop, touch screen computer has generated in a few weeks of its introduction. However, Microsoft is confident that they can be at ease in terms of consumer interest, and formulate a set of investments to try to take measures towards making Microsoft Surface a valuable consumer product.

Microsoft Surface consumer version has created high hopes for the mass-market as people expect that unlike other products of Microsoft, MS Surface can also make lives easier for the consumers. As earlier reports on Microsoft Surface suggest that, the surface technology used here based on Multitouch has been developed keeping in minds the probability of its success in the hospitality industry - hotels, restaurants and bars.

The 30-inches display screen table top Surface is set to create an illusion where you would find menus and order food and drink with just the tip of your finger. The interactive medium is expected to increase the business prospects of the consumers of MS Surface as it promises excitement and adventure. Powered by the Windows Vista operating system and is compatible with numerous Windows applications.

As, Steve Ballmer spoke of launching the consumer version of Microsoft Surface, he was confident that it would get widespread acceptability. It is expected that Microsoft must be working on it fast, although Mr. Ballmer ceased ahead of giving any timeframe.

The one factor that is debatable now regarding MS Surface is the pricey tag. However, there is an air of optimism that, the Microsoft Surface consumer version might prove to be cost effective to the mass-market. That indeed would be a turnaround factor to adjudge the large-scale acceptability of the product.

Microsoft Surface and the Multitouch Revolution

To most of us, the mouse and the keyboard are integral to the overall operation of a computer system. In fact, as I sit here typing this entry, I couldn't think of another way of doing it that would seem natural. However, with new technologies hitting the market every single day and with computer manufacturers the world over becoming enamoured with those technologies, we could very well be heading into an era where the mouse and keyboard become irrelevant to our everyday use of a computer.

Case in point of this phenomenon is the Microsoft Surface computer. As the name might imply, rather than being something that sits on a desk and is in multiple parts for you to put together and use, the Microsoft Surface computer is rather just a surface. You put it on your desk and you use it much in the same way that you would use a surface table. You can draw on it with pens, manipulate it with your fingers or simply have multiple people interact with it directly through the use of their digits in order to make the same things happen that you can do today with the computer you currently have.

Of course, this is all made possible through the Multitouch technology that allows a level of direct interaction with a particular piece of technology that has not been experienced before and very likely is just the starting point to more and more interaction that will put things like separate computer towers, keyboards, mice and speakers in museums as relics of an older time not too far in the future!

Microsoft Surface's Natural User Interface Technology

Microsoft Surface first started back in 2001 under the code name "Milan". It was a project that was started by a very small group of Microsoft employees. The design was changed 10's of times, but was finally presented to Bill in 2003. Of course, Mr. Gates liked it, and the project took on new life as it grew. By 2005 the final design had been chosen, and in 2007 it was presented to the public. The public was in awe, and Microsoft was proud.

So what makes Microsoft Surface so unique? It is unique because it goes where no computer has gone before. It uses a Natural User Interface (NUI). An NUI is an interface that attempts to take out any space between the digital and real world. It makes digital information and data seem real, by using Multi-touch interaction. Mult-touch interaction is simply a touch screen that supports multiple input points (touches) at the same time. In fact, Microsoft Surface supports up to 52.

Multi-touch is the biggest part of a Natural User Interface. It makes tasks such as viewing pictures... natural. There is practically no learning curve. To move a picutre, you simply put your finger down and drag it to the desired location, and to resize a picture simply pinch the picture with two fingers.

Another part that makes Surface's interface natural is the object recognition feature. Object recognition has three parts to it.

The first part is the ability to recognize more than just fingers, which means it can recognize objects. This is different from normal touch screens because normally touch screens require an electric current or heat, which come from fingers. However, unlike those touch screens, Surface does not care whether it is a finger or a Zune.

Second, the use of byte tags allow for unique object recognition. By simply creating a relation between a specific byte tag pattern and an object, such as a camera, the Touch Table can recognize that that object is a camera.

Thirdly, Surface can transfer data via Bluetooth between certain digital objects. When you set the camera down, Surface recognizes it as a camera through the byte tag, and then opens ports for data transfer. Then, to transfer photos on to the camera, you simply drag them to it. And when you set the camera down at first, the photos dump out onto the Surface table top.

All these factors make Microsoft Surface's Natural User Interface truly amazing and state of the art.

The author of this article is the WebMaster of a Microsoft Surface Website and Blog at [http://masalexs1.blogspot.com/]