Microsoft Surface. Wow!

[Mycanid]

mm HMMM! VERY interesting ....

 

[Hand of Evil]

With price drops and such, this will be down to little in no time. Most of the cost that I see in the video is the monitor, everything looks to be off the shelf stuff, besides MS wants as many out there are possible, so they can sell you upgrades!

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I foresee another Segwe(sp?)

It does look like the ultimate game table but it's price is set too high for really wide adoption at 5k. On top of that it seems like a one trick pony, a gimic. Sure it allows you to essentially play with pictures and videos intuitively and quickly get files out of devices but other than that it doesn't seem to have utility. How do you word process or spreadsheet on it? How do you write code? Ultimately what little I've seen doesn't show it acting as anything more than a media portal, and at 5k it's pricing itself way outside the market for that.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Yep. You'd have any "miniature" you'd ever need for free forever.

Barcode a label on the bottom that reads character data, have an application that displays 'firing arcs' and brings up a 1x1 grid and a overhead pic. Damn sweet.

 

[Hand of Evil]

You can see a video here also: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18936536/

 

[DethStryke]

I foresee another Segwe(sp?)

It does look like the ultimate game table but it's price is set too high for really wide adoption at 5k. On top of that it seems like a one trick pony, a gimic. Sure it allows you to essentially play with pictures and videos intuitively and quickly get files out of devices but other than that it doesn't seem to have utility. How do you word process or spreadsheet on it? How do you write code? Ultimately what little I've seen doesn't show it acting as anything more than a media portal, and at 5k it's pricing itself way outside the market for that.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/30/technology/microsoft.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

This gives you a bit more information.

The device can be interacted with via touch, stylus (so write what you want) and voice activated (which I would agree may be far from perfect, but it has improved quite a bit in the past 5 years). A demonstration of current uses is going to be very limited - it's in prototype form currently. Once it is on the open market, there are going to be tons of things to do with it because developers as a community can have a go at it.

I'm not sure what you mean about another Segway. If you mean a widely used device that has technology embedded which has great potential beyond the pilot application (the dual-wheel person mover), then I can understand. That's not what I'm getting from your context.

I do work in DC and major airports, and Segways are a huge hit with law-enforcement and commuters/tourists. You can even rent Segways for your family in DC to tool around to all the sites. I see roving bands of out-of-town families in DC-Branded Segways zipping between monuments and museums all the time. The base of their design was to show off the Auto-balancing technology, which has many other commercial applications - I just don't want to hijack the thread even more.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Thanks I hadn't seen that one. It does seem to have more uses than the demo video showed. Still skeptical though but I usually am. And I knew there was something wrong with my spelling

I'm not sure what you mean about another Segway. If you mean a widely used device that has technology embedded which has great potential beyond the pilot application (the dual-wheel person mover), then I can understand. That's not what I'm getting from your context.

Segway-an innovative and interesting device that's ultimately not very practical and won't be widely adopted.
Technologically the Segway is both innovative and advanced but as a device it's just not useful to the vast majority of people and not practical except in isolated circumstances. I was commenting that I foresaw basically the same sort of small-scale niche use for the Surface as the Segway rather than broad adoption across the population. They seem to be widespread because you're in one of the specific areas where their market niche is practical. Aside from certain types of metropolitan areas that occupy a tiny geographic area they're utterly useless as a means of transportation that's why only about 24000 have been sold.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I've known about this for a couple months now. It helps to be a subscriber to PC World and PC Magazine.

 

[DethStryke]

Thanks I hadn't seen that one. It does seem to have more uses than the demo video showed. Still skeptical though but I usually am. And I knew there was something wrong with my spelling

No problem! I was surprised that the CNN article was so much more effective at explaining the benefits. The sensing of devices placed on the table is where the real fun will be, in my opinion. That can just be manipulated WAY too much to NOT be useful. The price is reflective of the fact that there are probably no manufacturers ready and able to make the product without significant extra cost. I would expect being able to find this table under 1k within 3 years of launch though (more or less as the CNN article mentions).

Skepticism in consumers is a great thing. The adage that "if it looks too good to be true, it usually is" has a valid reason for existence. I prefer to watch and wait with a fair amount of optimism first. The first of anything is always a horrible idea that will never catch on...

I will agree that my experience with the Segway is largely anecdotal, but I did see a trade show presentation in the last six months that had off-road and climbing wheel chairs (ones that could sense and literally climb up curbs and steps) that used the balancing technology. I don't know how much experience you have with ADA-related issues (Americans with Disabilities Act) but that is a HUGE deal for the day-to-day lives of many people - especially considering the amount of amputees our Armed Forces are seeing in the past 4 years and beyond.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I foresee another Segwe(sp?)

It does look like the ultimate game table but it's price is set too high for really wide adoption at 5k. On top of that it seems like a one trick pony, a gimic. Sure it allows you to essentially play with pictures and videos intuitively and quickly get files out of devices but other than that it doesn't seem to have utility.

Well, considering that it is targeted at big companies with 'reception areas' of one form or another, 5k is a drop in the ocean compared to what it could bring them in returns. Microsoft plan to 'consumerise it', but not for several years - i.e. time for prices to come down dramatically. Just consider the PC power that one gets for £400 nowadays - and furthermore I remember back in the early 90's that many top end PCs (not servers) sold for about £4000 ($8000 dollars). What is the top end nowadays I wonder? About half that, I'd imagine.

It obviously isn't the kind of thing that you'd word-process on or write code on However, it just may open up a brand new computing niche (in the same way that people don't write or code much seriously on PDA's, but PDAs and phone-PDAs opened up some brand new niche applications).

I, for one, welcome our multi-touch overlords of the future.