Note: You are experiencing only the raw content of this site, without the intended layout and design. Either your browser has ignored the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) files for this site, or you are using an outdated browser which does not support Web Standards. Learn more.

EDS' Next Big Thing Blog: Read and Respond to What the EDS Fellows Say About Technology

Read and respond to what the EDS Fellows have to say about the future of technology on EDS' Next Big Thing Blog on eds.com.

Microsoft's New Surface

by Randy Mears

Microsoft’s new table top computer may be more than just another PC. Because of the unique capabilities of its “touch screen,” it may represent an early step along the way to more user friendly PC interfaces. With its “multiple simultaneous touch screen,” it will allow users to do things that the old one-at-a-time touch screens couldn’t. Though pricing is still at the “very early adopter” point, it will surely become affordable within the next few years; when it catches on. If you doubt that it will catch on, just watch the videos.

Is this a shot across Apple’s bow?

Published Thursday, May 31, 2007 1:11 PM

Subscribe to this post's comments using RSS

Comments

Posted by David Scott Lewis Sunday, June 03, 2007 2:07 PM

No, not a shot across Apple's bow: A shot between Steve Jobs' eyes would be more accurate.

Certainly, of course, Apple can respond. But I've wondered where their billions of dollars spent on research has been going, and if this is a key development area, then I suspect that Microsoft will be granted a lot of blocking patents thereby making life in this particular segment miserable for either Apple or Google.

A second life (no pun intended) for Microsoft, perhaps.

Posted by Carlos Rubalcava Friday, June 08, 2007 11:12 PM

Not to sound like an Apple fanboy, but, isn't this kind of like the demo of the iPhone with the multi-finger and gesture input? Granted, this is on a bit bigger scale, but still I think the idea is the same: providing a more natural and fluid interaction with the computing device.

I'll leave it to other people to debate who came up with the idea first. I don't think Apple is behind by any significant amount.

Posted by Scott Bowers Wednesday, June 13, 2007 7:22 PM

The technologies are cool, but aren't most of them dependent on a table-top form factor? Otherwise, you wouldn't want to view objects from multiple perspectives (mine is just fine) and you wouldn't want to put physical things down on it (they will fall off). So who will want these tables? Consumers? Probably not. Businesses? Limited. Yes, multi-touch is the future, but he table device is a niche product.