This week Microsoft announced it’s “Surface Computer Milan”.
[youtube zFliDRSaV3k nolink]
It’s an acrylic table that’s 22 inches high, with a 30-inch horizontal display. Remember those tabletop arcade games in bars in the 80s? It looks something like that. Inside, there’s a PC running Vista, a projector, and an array of cameras that track objects and touch on the surface of the screen. With a little special programming sauce, it all comes together in a very slick experience. (Gadget Lab – Wired Blogs)
Credit: Gadget Lab – Wired Blogs
No mouse, no keybord – “just” a mutli-touch user interface … and Mark Bolger, director of marketing for Microsoft’s surface-computing effort, highlights it’s userbility!?
To my mind this could be a great thing for some of the designated applications like a public jukebox and for entertainment purposes in general. But I hope that the further evolution doesn’t veer toward a vitual keyboard (because of the insight that you need any input device of this kind to work efficiently). Why I wouldn’t like this? Because I’m a fan of the good, old IBM keyboards with the buckling spring technology. Now I’ve shown my colors!
