Science Forums 2

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

How much does it cost??

Originally Posted by Zythryn

I have a feeling it is one of those categories where if you have to ask, don't bother

I doubt the system show in the MS demos will be unusually expensive. I’m also skeptical that they’ll reach a wide market.

Technically, the MS Surface is a rear-projection TV with cameras that track the movement of objects placed on or near its surface, and, obviously, computer(s) programmed to make the two interact. According to its demonstrators and reviewers, it is NOT a touchscreen of any sort. I’m a bit suspicious of this claim, and think there’s a bit more two it than is being presented in the early, non-technical press. I suspect it’s using something like a grid of infrared beam emitters and detectors to sense actual contact with the table, and bright point illumination to “register” objects with the tracking camera – if you watch the demo videos, you’ll notice “flashes” when fingers and tools touch the surface.

In short, while cool, this box is not what I’d call “cutting edge”. I suspect there’s no component in it that’s not off-the-shelf, nor that an equivalent box couldn’t be built by a good hobbyist. My first impression of it is that it’s functionally a lot like a TV and a Sony EyeToy equipped PS2, except laid flat rather than the traditional upright arrangement.

The design has some distinct, severe drawbacks: It’s tracking sensitivity seems limited, which is typical of camera-based systems – notice that the demos show finger painting, but not fine line drawing with a stylus. I suspect it’s not capable of the latter.

A more imposing drawback is that the system is thick. You can’t sit at it and put you legs under it, like a normal table. As anyone who’s played an old “coffee table” cabinet video game (if you visit restaurants and bars, you can still find a lot of these, typically playing Ms PacMan or Galaxians for $0.25 a game), using such boxes with any enthusiasm usually entails some knee-banging and cursing. In terms or portability, even the small ones look like a dolly or two-man moving job – definitely not a zippered portfolio bag you could bring to business meetings or parties.

I’ve wanted every artificial surface I see to be a display and touch-sensitive device since I was a young kid in the 1960s. While the research, development, and marketing prescience of Microsoft is not to be lightly discounted, I don’t think their current approach is on the mark. IMHO, a successful “surface computer” will most likely be based either on the internal light sensing system seen in the Apple iPhone, or an advanced material using individual “touch pixels”. Moderately well-read Star Trek fans will recognize the latter as matching (roughly, and without terms like “polyduranide” and “optical nanoprocessor” the description Michael Okuda give of how all the panels in STTNG work. (For non-trekies, Okuda is the art & set guru largely responsible for the look of STTNG. Although the panels actually appearing the TV show are simply back-lit photographically produced plastic sheets, according to Okuda, they are intended to suggest that the displays change as needed, and are completely touch sensitive (and also capable of “scanning” nearby objects for everything from position to molecular composition, but that’s way over-the-top scifi talk).

On a cynical note, I sense in this latest “product launch” an effort by Microsoft to resurrect its effectively dead (other than in ads, how many Zunes have you seen in the hands of consumers?) Zune multimedia handheld. Note that several promotional videos prominently feature Zunes being placed on the Surface, and songs effortlessly dragged and dropped onto/into them. You can bet that, if the Surface is successful, MS won’t be straining itself to allow an iPod or any other Zune competitor to work on it.