Hi Lyndsey,
From speaking to Microsoft insiders I had heard that Surface was due to be released in Europe around April time, I think currently in the States they are about $3-4,000 dollars for the table plus all the SDKs etc for developing on them. I also heard that when they hit Europe they will probably work out to be about £6,000 which made my jaw drop a bit (although that was nothing official and may very well be untrue).
Technology-wise it runs on the Microsoft WPF (windows presentation foundation) platform and has capabilities to detect individual finger presses, whole hands and you can customise your own gestures using the SDK. You can also attach "optical tags" to objects so that when placed on the table it can recognise them. All this is done using infrared technology.
Having played with a Surface table in Brighton I was instantly thinking how cool it would be to have on in a museum, but as others will surely point out, similar technology has already been used in a couple of different places. The only winner for me is the very powerful SDK which makes developing for this thing simple as it sits in line with normal WFP development with just the addition of a few simple extra method calls.
Some very technical (yet still informative) videos from Microsofts Professional Developer Conference are available online.
http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/pdc08/WMV/PC17.wmv (WMV) (You may want to skip to around 14 mins when they start doing some hands-on demos)
http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/pdc08/MP4/PC17.mp4 (MP4)
Hope this helps in some way.
Regards
Stephen
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lyndsey Clark
Sent: 19 November 2008 13:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Microsoft Surface
Hi,
I'm a new subscriber to this list so excuse me if this has been
discussed before.
I have tried searching the archives but to no avail. I am interested in
Microsoft Surface (http://www.microsoft.com/SURFACE/index.html) for
on-gallery exhibits but can't find any information about when it might
become available for this type of use in the UK.
So, my first question is - does anybody know anything about Microsoft
Surface beyond what is on their website?
My second question is - if they won't commit to a launch timetable, what
solutions are similar that we could use in the meantime? Which
interactive table exhibits already in existence are particularly good?
Are they always designed from scratch? Do they all involve a suspended
component (I have very high or absent ceilings in my museum!)?
I'd be interesting in all your experiences or musings on this subject so
if you don't want to reply to the list feel free to contact me directly.
Thanks,
Lyndsey
Lyndsey Clark
Interactive Displays Manager
National Museums Scotland
Chambers Street
Edinburgh EH1 1JF
Tel +44 (0) 131 247 4455
Fax+44 (0) 131 247 4311
e-mail [log in to unmask]
http://www.nms.ac.uk
"The world's greatest dressmaker." Jean Muir: A Fashion Icon.
http://www.nms.ac.uk/jeanmuir
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