Comments on: Microsoft Announces “Surface”

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 31 May 2007 13:09:13 +0000

The networking device to device functions are timesaving, the rest isn’t.
Time to buy Windex /glass cleaner disinfectant stock :)

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 31 May 2007 01:04:24 +0000

Didn’t Gates already demo this back at CES or something?

By: Muff

Muff — Wed, 30 May 2007 22:29:51 +0000

Wow, for once, I agree with everyone’s comments. Wait a minute, I see Smash replied, so never mind. I wouldn’t object to one of these in my house, but I’ll wait for a small price drop.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 30 May 2007 21:39:44 +0000

The idea that Microsoft just whipped this thing up as a response to IPhone is simply hilarious. “Wow guys, Apple just announced a nifty phone interface. Lets go back in time and spend millions of dollars and man-hours on a project that rips it off.” The word “fan-boy” somehow doesn’t cover it.

By: aljo

aljo — Wed, 30 May 2007 21:38:18 +0000

gimme a break on the “copying mac” nonsense… it’s so old. jeff han intro’d this almost two years ago, and you think that they’re copying apple? all i could think of when i first saw the iphone was “god, i hope han’s getting handsomely rewarded.” that was the real innovation. as for everyone else, it’s just about dissemination. i don’t mean to bitch and moan about the apple/microsoft debate, but this is particularly egregious.

By: SMASH!!!!

SMASH!!!! — Wed, 30 May 2007 19:45:30 +0000

when i look at this all i see is the most expensive risk boards ever created

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 30 May 2007 19:34:59 +0000

I want one of those as my monitor… If Apple does one of these I hope that they let you run Photoshop on it.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:57:46 +0000

Apparently every new product is now labeled as a rip off of some apple product. A glossy, touch screen interface does not make this a rip off of the iPhone/some other overly designed apple product. That said, it is almost an exact copy of the touch interface presented by Jeff Han at TED in 2006. Observe here:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/65

By: TerminalDigit

TerminalDigit — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:53:42 +0000

First of all . . . this looks very cool. Clearly the videos are not going to show off the entire feature set. It’s a short video—why waste time showing something as mundane as sliding around brightness/contrast sliders to enchance some photos when you have stuff that is much cooler like dragging files to devices, dragging foods to credit cards, etc. Rest assured, you’ll be able to manipulate your photos. I can already do it on my TabletPC. Swap the stylus for a finger and you’re set.

In regards to the copycat comments — Cupertino’s photocopiers are just faster than Redmond’s. You can find real live versions of interfaces nearly identical to the iPhone and Surface already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKh1Rv0PlOQ (the iPhone’s “pinch” gesture isn’t so innovative after all)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc (very similar to what you see in the MS Surface demo with regards to tables interacting with the objects placed on them)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ODskdEPnQ (a tablet interface that I think is pretty cool)

But really there’s nothing to balk at or be “shocked” about here. This is how technology moves forward. We don’t ridicule all cars as photocopies of the Model T or all vaccines as ripoffs of the smallpox vaccine. I’m happy to see good ideas spread and not be overly concerned with who thought of what before the other guy.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:10:12 +0000

The Surface table enables users to easily move photos, sounds and video from one device to another; that might be the killer app. I don’t think the need for that kind of application should be understated. With todays proliferation of handheld devices, all of which can store and record media and all of which are wireless, a single platform that enables all of these different devices to realize their full potential by converting, transferring and *sharing* data and media will serve a need that users aren’t even fully aware they have. Isn’t that what a killer app is?

That being said, I think multi-touch and mouse-and-keyboardless interaction is still 10 years off. Users and software developers still have a lot of work ahead of them to develop a language for interaction that doesn’t rely on these familiar tools. Can you imagine building a spreadsheet on a Surface table?