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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Scratching the Surface

Microsoft has followed the Apple lead and done some really neat software for the user interface (for once). The Surface is a table PC (which has been around in places like Bristol's Watershed for years) but now adds a touch screen software for that surface (hence the name).
One demo shows the use with a phone (above), linking automatically via Bluetooth when placed on the table and easily transferring pictures to and from the phone. Brilliant!
The other shows a group working on the same set of photos, moving and manipulating them by hand (below).
The main thing I would worry about is the lifetime of the touchscreen and the initial costs - for a lot of the corporate applications (with the high price) a vertical touchscreen seems better, and we have those already. The phone example, which needs a table, is more suited to the home or casual environment and I'm not sure this wil be priced for that market.

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