Microsoft Surface: one day your computer will be a big-ass table
By Darren Murph 
posted Jun 20th 2007 1:07PM
posted Jun 20th 2007 1:07PM
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Cool. I assume my big table pc will come with a wall mounting kit?
How about a little objectivity here on Engadget. You bowdown to Apple after they release something as simple as a phone dock, then bash Microsoft left and right for one of the more innovative projects this year.
I remember like 1 yr ago i recived a video in an e-mail with a guy showing an invention that looked exactly like this table!
Was I the only one?
Miguel
No you weren't... I seem to remember it was an MIT student that created something like this. WTH, Microsoft? I hope they're giving him royalties.
Yep - his name is James Patten. Running his own shop now, when I saw this I assumed he was brought in as a consultant.
http://www.jamespatten.com/sensetable.php
miguel and Jeremy K.
I'm sorry but you two are total idiots.
Microsoft has been working on this since 2001!
In 2003 it was presented to Bill Gates, and not soon after they had working demos!
Which would make it somewhere around 2004/2005.
So your gonna tell me that this kid thought of it first? right.
Actually looking at his work, he worked on the sensetable from 2000-2001. http://tangible.media.mit.edu/projects/sensetable/
So yeah, he came up with the idea first.
yeah but then i'll just use it to emulate ms. pac man.
does it come with faux wood grain?
I've got an idea.. let's make a computer tabletop interface about computer tabletop interfaces!!!
Always have to appreciate a Seinfeld reference.
touchscreen Ms.Pacman anyone?
umm, I feel sorry for whoever actually spent the time necessary for this thinking it'd be hilarious... because it really wasn't funny at all. If anything, they were poking fun at computing in *general*... but it's pretty obvious stuff.
I think people enjoy bashing Microsoft cause it's a big powerful company to which Apple is seen as the underdog. I think it makes it more fun to bow down to "poor old apple."
the iphone has this tech. also, with the enlarging of photos with the corners thing. Apple also needs to give royalties as well.
I remember getting that email miguel. it was college students right? they had all of this and a lava lamp app, that you could heat up and mend apart. When I saw that, I though it was really innovative and cutting edge.
HAHAHAHAHA
ok stop bashing Engadget and laugh at the video!
If the video was funny we'd laugh.
What a stupid video. Microsoft Surface is a very useful idea. You have to understand that this isn't meant for home use, at least in the form that it is shown. Take a look at the demos... they're at a Hotel/Casino.
And the last comment... take that Apple. What the hell is that supposed to mean? As if Microsoft Surface was intended to be a hit at Apple...
ALSO, Engadget... is this really newsworthy? It seems that the writers for Engadget are slowly dumbing down the quality of the posts. C'mon guys.
Jeremy, this video is certainly funny (although it runs out of parody material 3/4 through). YOU are drinking the Microsoft kool-aid. What YOU fail to realize, is that "Surface" isn't one of "the most innovative products of the year", its NOT EVEN A PRODUCT yet. It's a "technology demonstration". Were it even a product, we would see product... wait for it... SPECIFICATIONS. We would not see a "price range" ($5,000-$10,000), but a price target. Moreover, its not consumer ready either. Not only in pricing, but you can bet trained Microsoft personel will need to install and configure the device for its expected corporate customers. I see them almost giving these things away, just to help understand how they can "productize" and "market" the device in the real-world. It's even possible nothing will come of this for 3-4 years.
After all is said and done, I can't see this being useful in current form. It's FUN to play with, like a piece of performance art (an interactive Blue Man Group), --but its hardly a practical, useful technology as yet. Contrary to popular hallucination... YOU will not be able to walk up and stick your phone onto it, or your camera. Anything other than your FINGERS will need a specially programmed "tag" placed on it. No demonstrations showed setting up the tag. Slight problem there.
I was impressed with Jeff Hans demonstrations at TED. I'm also, despite tone, very happy that Microsoft has taken that EXACT paradigm and added "smart objects" as a possibility (I've seen a number of other helpful ideas/demos thrown into this sphere too). I'm still waiting to learn the application that will believably improve my life (or anyones). >>SNAP, SNAP
REALITY-CHECK. Wake up, this isn't in your house, and if you eventually get one, no one else will have one for some years.
Can you say "fringe technology"? I'm more interested in hearing from Phillips and the Entertaible. At least that product (while also not "consumer ready") looks focused on a believable market sector. Why's the iPhone more rave-worthy? Um, I'll let you know in a week, along with over 19 million other interested buyers.
Keeping it REAL.
Good grief you idiots. Get off the apple hating bandwagon a moment to laugh at something that is funny. Innovative product? Sure, it looks fun to play with. Did MS come up with it? Absolutely not. typical MSinnovation is seeing a technology and grabbing it. I hope they are paying the php that came up with this atleast. Also typical is MS adding a feature or a product with marketing zazz but little useful substance (see: wireless zune and Flip3d).
Relax, why get worked up defending any big corporate monolith?
I thought it was funny.
Now... THIS is a funny post: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/06/20/the-iphone-is-a-500-youtube-player/
It's all funny. What's the big deal? They both have their uses, and their takebacks/people that just don't want them.
Oh Jeremy,
Go back to sleep. If you don't want an iPhone, don't begrudge the millions that will buy one. Unlike the Microsoft Surface... which is just a big-ass table... from the future. While Helio users freak out that Helio has shut-off access to YouTube's mobile service over 3G, and people get used to the crappy, but uber compatible 3GPP video... the iPhone plops in another, more superior feature, on top of many that people will be happy to use alone.
If that article you linked even slightly rang true, it'd be funny (Ha! Expensive and only a YouTube player! That's a riot!) I like the "phonenix" comment on the article. When the N95 allows access to the high-res new H.264 stream from YouTube, I'm sure they'll be happy too. Especially if it doesn't cost them more.
Why get catty about it? Zune 2 should consider added web access and an H.264 YouTube player of its own. Right now, I'm more interested in reports that streaming video over EDGE is against AT&T's service agreement despite the announcement. We'll see how the chips fall. Fun stuff.
Sarcasticgamer? Since when did Macs have videogames?
Also, who in the world wouldn't want to be able to totally circumvent those part time waiters? That is, besides teenagers in desperate need of a summer job?
I thought this was hilarious, but I have to agree with the above poster that this is a little biased.
OMFG I HAET YUO MICROSOFT! OMFG A PHOEN DOCK AND PHOEN HEDSET, I LUV U APPEL!
Can some one please explain to me why this is usless tech? I would love to have on of these in and home and replace my standard coffee table with one or just use it as an input device for a 50 inch flat panel monitor/TV. The only thing I dont like about it is that it needs to use cameras to recognize object placed on it why not just use bluetooth?? but I digress this is by far the coolest piece of tech to com out of redmond in a looooooong time and definatly deserves some credit for being the coolest piece of tech this year with the potential to reinvent the whole PC idea.
Can some one please explain to me why this is usless tech? I would
love to have on of these in and home and replace my standard coffee
table with one or just use it as an input device for a 50 inch flat
panel monitor/TV. The only thing I dont like about it is that it
needs to use cameras to recognize object placed on it why not just
use bluetooth?? but I digress this is by far the coolest piece of
tech to com out of redmond in a looooooong time and definatly
deserves some credit for being the coolest piece of tech this year
with the potential to reinvent the whole PC idea.
That was some funny shit!
yeah engadget's anti-microsoft bias is all over the place. they can't report ANY zune news without saying "but look!! they still haven't followed our 5 steps! they still suck!!!! omg!!! i hate microsoft!!!!" and as someone said above they always load apple with praise at every opportunity. now i agree the video is kinda funny but i'm talking in general here.
i'm used to it. everyone loves to hate microsoft, just because they're big. well, there's a reason they became big in the first place: they simply made the best software, all along. and yet everyone fails to see this and hates microsoft anyway.
What do you mean M$ made the "best" software? they just bought DOS and built a GUI interface around it - an idea they stole from Steve Jobs' AppleII!
Yeah... Microsoft sucks so bad they own the market and pulled down a revenue of 44.3 billion dollars in 2006. Hooray Apple! Who doesn't love a company with poor environmental policies, trouble with the SEC and products that never crash (unless you count the sudden cessation of processes without warning as crashing)? I know engadget does because they have been force-feeding us more praise for Apple than Steve Jobs.
Oh and for the record, browsing through your movies on the screen that is your coffee table and then having the one you pick play on the TV on the wall in front of you would be awesome. Especially if it recognizes my iphone.
@Biffy: yeah, like Steve Jobs didn't steal their UI from Xerox. Jeez.
I love most things Apple, but there's a strong application for Surface. If you replaced every tabletop in a bar/restaurant with this thing (think your favorite chicken wings joint) you can eliminate the need for 1-2 snotty waitresses who ignore you half the time and only stop to ask "how is everything?" at the precise moment your piehole is stuffed full.
Over a short number of weeks, these badboys will pay for themselves.
Short number of weeks? Dude I don;t know what you're thinking but one waiter can cover like five tables at 8 bucks an hour that can't cover the $50000 the tables will cost.
OK, let's go with your figure. The REAL cost to the employer (benefits, taxes, training, recruiting, insurance, credits for screw-ups, etc.) will put that number closer to $12 per hour. If that one waiter worked 40 hours a week for a full year, that's nearly $25,000 in real costs to the employer. Of course, those tables will need to be manned more than 8 hours a day and on weekends too. So you'd better double that. Whaddaya know?!? That's $50,000! And that's assuming the price stays the same - which we all know it won't, especially with a bulk purchase. All that with a cool new novelty to bring in new customers, upsell them and provide fewer management headaches. My position stands.
@ lee smith: "OK, let's go with your figure. The REAL cost to the employer (benefits, taxes, training, recruiting, insurance, credits for screw-ups, etc.) will put that number closer to $12 per hour."
er... waiters get paid $2.13 an hour here, and get no benefits unless they work 40 hours a week or more for at least 6 months (and if you EVER work a week and get only 39 hours, which the managers are encouraged to make happen, you loose benefits until another 6 months pass) training is generally two 4 hour shifts for which you get paid minimum wage and just shadow a current waiter, recruiting is a 30 cent "now hiring" sign...
you're numbers are totally irrelevant to the real world.
@ lee smith: "OK, let's go with your figure. The REAL cost to the employer (benefits, taxes, training, recruiting, insurance, credits for screw-ups, etc.) will put that number closer to $12 per hour."
er... waiters get paid $2.13 an hour here, and get no benefits unless they work 40 hours a week or more for at least 6 months (and if you EVER work a week and get only 39 hours, which the managers are encouraged to make happen, you loose benefits until another 6 months pass) training is generally two 4 hour shifts for which you get paid minimum wage and just shadow a current waiter, recruiting is a 30 cent "now hiring" sign...
your numbers are totally irrelevant to the real world.
they would be neat, sure, but economical? give me a break. your out of your mind if you think that the $10k (plus thousands and thousands spent on custom development - remember these don't come equipped to DO ANYTHING, and have no APIs - you're at the mercy of MS for your actual functionality development) would EVER be re-coupped, or at least, before these things break and need replacing.
Jeff, there's little doubt that the hourly wage Molnek quoted was high for most restaurants in most cities - especially the chicken wings joint. After giving this additional thought (but just for a moment) you're more likely to see these in upscale hotel bars and night clubs.
That said, you're not being very forward looking. Like most technology, the price of these things will not be $10K forever and there's little doubt in my mind that standard software is already under development. Think 3-5 years down the road and when you're ordering an adult beverage at your favorite watering hole on a big-a$$ table, remember I told you so.
Um. Does anyone even know what Surface is? It's a tub with a DLP projector, five cameras, and Windows. The cameras sense when an object is on the table, and if the object is tagged with a barcode, the cameras recognize what it is.
This isn't multi-touch computing, guys. The iPhone is that, in the palm of your hand. Microsoft needs five cameras, a projector, and a tub to simulate multitouch. It's.... just not the same, guys.
Not that Surface doesn't look neat! It sure does! But, it IS a lot of trickery to make it appear to be what it ain't.
(This is gonna piss most of you off, but here's more info: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q2.07/2152AFA3-DE5C-4A92-BE17-672C7858E854.html Sorry about that lack of properly-formatted link.)
Oh, before you scream Apple fanboy, the answer is yes, but not to the point where I don't see the value in what competitor's are doing. I just like Apple's implementation better.
>But, it IS a lot of trickery to make it appear to be what it ain't.
What trickery? MS has published detailed drawings (with far more information than that pathetic link) of how it works. They aren't hiding anything. The iPhone and Surface are different things. The iPhone is awesome because it comes with a great UI and in such a small package. Surface is cool because it interacts with physical objects (who cares if it is just a barcode scanner? it works) and features maximum multi-touch. 40 fingers plus 12 objects at once. People think they are directly competing are drowning in mindless fanboism. Persoanlly I'd love it if I could come home and drop an iPhone on a surface like table and have the two interact.
Hey guys,
I have been working (with a team) on similar technologies way before MS or even Jeff Hahn thought of this. But again we were not the first one! (nor the last) there are numeruous versions around the world.
Take a look at a demo of what it could be used for
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6875395164091470341 (YOU MUST WATCH TO UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF THESE FAAAAAT @ss Tables)
From somebody who worked on similar technologies, I raise my hat to microsoft surface for one main thing, object recognition. The table recognizes the objects that touches it. This is beyond a simple touch screen that (Apple, NYU , MIT.......) did.
On the other side, I am disapointed that Engadget is publishing some stupid "analysis" like the one of that video
God dammit. The object recognition is no more than a barcode scanner currently limited to 256 different combinations.
However, implementation is cool. And yes, I could see this in restaurants and public places.
However, the truth is, it took Microsoft five years to come up with a Windows PC in a tub with five cameras. a (limited) barcode scanner, and it STILL requires extensive customization with Microsoft's customers AFTER they shell out up to 10,000 dollars. You think Microsoft's money would have enabled them to come up with an implementation that was cost-effective.
As someone who will purchase an iPhone, if Microsoft actually unveiled a consumer coffee table with that interface that was easy to use and priced under 1000, they would give the public a lot to consider!
You're going to pay $600 for an iPhone, and you want this for under $1k? Silly boy.
How about allowing us to rate articles too, instead of just the comments?
WOW, so much fanboy rage on this article.
I found the video funny, though I disagree with lots of stuff.
Well, first of all, Microsoft Surface seems to be more directed for business. Shure some rich people can have it at home, but I think it'll be great for night clubs and stuff.
Believe me or not, making cool effects that surprises people and makes them order more drinks is an obvious profit for it. Also, that's not the main purpose of it.
It's not that you CAN'T have a GPS, or cellphone with GPS working WITH the table.
Clearly, what's important is that the table is a lot easier to handle and to visualize the whole thing.
Also, Microsoft's been working for a long time on this. Though I liked more the approach of the one shown on TED Talks conference (look for it on YouTube).
Finally, comparing it to iPhone is just dumb. 2 completely different technologies that could even be working together. Microsoft is not a cellphone upgrade, is not a desktop upgrade, not a tablet upgrade. It's more like a table-computer integration, that will make lots of everyday tasks easier.
Guys,
It was a joke. Just meant to be goofy. I have no agenda here other than to TRY to be funny, which is apparently a target I missed. Lighten up. Not everything is a conspiracy. It's all tongue in cheek.
The original post says "I really really want one of these things, but since I can't afford one, I'll parody it instead"
Geez.
Doc Adams
Sarcastic Gamer
I thought it was hilarious! All 'and this is the wave [pause] of the future' technology videos put out by huge technology companies need to be mocked.
It was hilarious. And even if you didn't personally find it funny just because he mentions Apple at the end doesn't mean you have to get your panties in a bunch. Sheesh!