Surface to hit consumerdom in 2011, maybe sooner

The last we heard about a consumer-oriented version of Microsoft Surface, Steve Ballmer was saying that the company was trying to get it out ASAP -- which is apparently three years, we've just learned. That's the word from Tom Gibbons, the MS VP in charge of Specialized Devices and Applications, who says Microsoft can "absolutely see how" to get Surface to consumers by 2011, but that it'll try to beat that deadline if possible. Of course, the $10,000 commercial version of Surface still hasn't been released to high-profile customers like T-Mobile and Harrah's, although it's starting to make semi-random promo appearances here and there. Still, though, 2011? We're getting pretty sick of old-school Hungry Hungry Hippos here, people -- let's make this happen.

[Paul @ Mar 27th 2008 10:33PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY
I still think Surface isn't a consumer product when people can just use a regular computer that costs much less

[omnicloud @ Mar 27th 2008 11:05PM]

Spending that kind of money, that credit card will no longer show up as "PAY $22.86".

[Quikboy @ Mar 28th 2008 12:05AM]

I doubt that the end-product for Surface will just simply be what we've already seen in the videos.

I think the videos were more to show the cool things that Surface can do, rather than some of the more important and practical things that people could already ordinarily do with their desktops.

I'm guess what's coming in 2011 will be more of a "real" considerable desktop replacement. Where the OS, actually functions fully like a real computer OS, though with the neat Surface-style effects. I can't wait to see what comes up.

[Whatsizface @ Apr 10th 2008 10:03AM]

$22.86 would be one day of interest.

[ben @ Mar 27th 2008 10:33PM]

I, and the rest of America, couldn't care less about Microsoft Surface. They should spend more time making the rest of their junk work properly

[Killer @ Mar 27th 2008 10:44PM]

Thats funny, I care about Microsoft Surface. By "rest Of America", you must mean the other people that don't care about it. I didn't know that 301,139,946 people all shared the same opinion as you. That's Amazing!

[ben @ Mar 27th 2008 10:46PM]

As they say in Sin City,

Yeesh

[Andrew Campbell @ Mar 27th 2008 11:12PM]

You should purchase your avatar a lap-dance; I'm sure he'd appreciate the attention.

[ben @ Mar 27th 2008 11:13PM]

lol nice

[roach @ Mar 28th 2008 1:50AM]

I and the rest of Canada don't care about surface.
And I know the rest of Canada is with me that MS should invest on android chicks, the goverment of Canada allows us to marry android chicks, have extra marital affairs with other married android chicks and be able to divorce android chicks so I can run away with newer hotter android chicks...yeah, Canada is with me on this one.

[Sukhminder @ Mar 28th 2008 3:58PM]

I am Canadian and I do not approve of roach's message.

[adam weitzner @ Mar 27th 2008 10:41PM]

Does any one else think this looks like the reactable? The ring control...

[caramelzappa @ Mar 27th 2008 11:03PM]

Why do companies have to announce big projects years before they're released? They seem to try and build a huge hype to a product, and by the time it comes out no one really cares anymore.

Example, when Spore was announced 3 years ago. Everyone I knew couldn't wait for the game, they thought it was amazing and revolutionary, and now, as the game nears release, no one really cares. There isn't much hype at all, and people are going to wait to see what others think about it before buying it instead of just rushing to stores in a frenzy.

[itlnstln @ Mar 28th 2008 10:57AM]

Daikatana anyone?

or... Duke Nukem Forever...

[For2itous @ Mar 27th 2008 10:47PM]

Hell, by *2011* we'll all be disembodied brains, blissfully bobbing in Matrixesque jars, hugely enjoying direct-to-net connections with our pulsating primal pleasure centers and, well--in no need of yesteryear 'touch' GUI's...

[Mr. Gremlin @ Mar 27th 2008 11:35PM]

By 2015, I will have invented the immortality potion, the cure for HIV/AIDS, AND teleportation. Hold your breath everybody!

[DP @ Mar 28th 2008 12:22AM]

If we are all disembodied brains, how will we sex robots?

[Abuzar @ Mar 28th 2008 12:26AM]

"How will we sex robots?"

Easy, the ones with the boobs are females.

[andres @ Mar 28th 2008 12:45AM]

@abuzar
hopefully...

[Brendan Sheehan @ Mar 28th 2008 1:10PM]

So it's going to run Windows 7 then? :P

[rhcpsfan @ Mar 27th 2008 10:49PM]

you know the people who use this table are rich by the fact that they tip 29%.well , i guess rich people are the only ones that can afford a giant table computer.

[paul34 @ Mar 28th 2008 12:08AM]

I am far, far from rich and I will usually tip 21-22% or more sometimes. 29% would probably be appropriate for an actually nice place.

[Bill @ Mar 28th 2008 12:26PM]

Um, really?? You tip that much on a regular basis? I thought 15% was pretty standard and 20% was for exceptional service. If you are going to a fancy restaurant, the server is already getting a higher tip because it's 20% on a much bigger bill.

Seems like America is moving towards more and more tipping which just causes restaurants to pay less and less, which doesn't seem wise to me, and really pisses off the Europeans who come over here and aren't used to much tipping at all.

[eugene @ Mar 27th 2008 10:55PM]

microsoft needs to make their money in 2011, because we all know the world will end in 2012, as predicted by nostrodamus and some calendar in a south american jungle.

[ben @ Mar 27th 2008 10:56PM]

The Mayans or the Aztecs, and they had better have been wrong, that'd be my senior year in college.

[rutsy5 @ Mar 27th 2008 11:25PM]

o.O me too :D and I think we should have little to fear ;)

[Killer @ Mar 27th 2008 11:29PM]

Exactly, I'm not fearing the end. I got this poster to calm me down...
http://flyangler.ca/forum/uploads/monthly_05_2007/post-65-1178829852.jpg

[thelittleleaguecoach.com @ Mar 27th 2008 10:55PM]

wow. Microsoft taking a long time to get a product out? Amazing? Certainly it will freeze when you try to use it also!

The Little League Coach
http://thelittleleaguecoach.com

[ben @ Mar 27th 2008 11:35PM]

lol I appreciate that, even though you missed and stuck it under some other dude's threshold. I'm hopin for a scholarship

[Steffen Jobbs @ Mar 27th 2008 11:32PM]

If it's the end of the world, you can just party your whole senior year. Toga, toga. And just think, you won't have to pay back any of your student loans if society collapses and the world is consumed alternately by fire and floods. There's a good side to the end of the world if you look at the bright side.

[dvdivx @ Mar 27th 2008 10:57PM]

Am I the only one who just doesn't care about this. Aside from kiosks and industrial uses I don't see them being a big hit.

[Andrew Campbell @ Mar 27th 2008 11:14PM]

I'm personally looking forward to seeing these in bars and restaurants.

Star Wars cantina scene, anyone?

[ben @ Mar 27th 2008 11:34PM]

exactly!

[Drew @ Mar 27th 2008 11:06PM]

in 2011, more people will be eating at home...
I'm not paying 29% Tip for rancid undercooked meat!
I'll need that $22.86 to pay for the gallon of gas that it took me to get to there!
Where is my solar powered car Engadget?

[Mr. Picklesworth @ Mar 27th 2008 11:02PM]

I realized a while ago that Surface's major feature -- seamless synchronization of devices -- is brought no closer here than it currently is, and in fact becomes a more convoluted. Current technologies, implemented correctly, allow me to walk into my house, turn on a phone / camera / pda, and have that device instantly communicate with the come base computer, retrieiving information to connect with it remotely, making sure data between the two is all up to date... all without me needing to touch a single button. Most importantly, this can be done without even thinking about the process, or putting a device on top of a big ass table. It can simply work, simply by recognizing trusted devices and working wirelessly from there.
It's quite magical, actually.

With that in mind, Surface's biggest goody is a waste of time. The natural interface stuff is neat, but coming in at just the same time as some other neat natural interface stuff that is considerably less expensive...

[BigD145 @ Mar 27th 2008 11:05PM]

In 2011 we'll be able to take out a 10k credit card to buy one of these so we can pay off our 10k+ in debt. We'll call it Capitalism.

[Killer @ Mar 27th 2008 11:13PM]

But thats already been taken...

http://www.marcofolio.net/images/stories/fun/imagedump/demotivational_posters/homeless.jpg

[thegreatino @ Mar 28th 2008 1:15AM]

your all ms haters. it is a very interesting and advanced hardware/software interaction. even if you aren't going to buy it, its a step in the right direction for technology like this. its being looked forward to by a lot of people, myself included.

[Bloobie @ Mar 28th 2008 1:23AM]

Interesting, yes. Useful, no. At least in a home environment. Without an RFID chip in the credit card, this will not work for paying a bill at a restaurant or shopping online. Being a flat, hard surface, this will not work well for continuous keyboard input. Try tapping on a hard table with your fingers for a good while and you'll see what I mean.
So, how exactly are you looking forward to this? What application do you see for this in the home environment? Do you think people will actually spend several grand to bring in this large piece of equipment/furniture into their homes to resize photos on?

[mark balcerak @ Mar 27th 2008 11:12PM]

they should figure out a way to make cheaper products bearing the economic crisis in the US rather than figure out how to make it easier to spend money, since no one will have any in the near future.

goddamn bush.

[Backlin @ Mar 27th 2008 11:14PM]

Yeah, I have a response, "Uh, WHAT???"

[Neebs @ Mar 27th 2008 11:15PM]

fail

[TIMMAH! @ Mar 27th 2008 11:15PM]

{{ collective yawn from consumerdom }}

[Backlin @ Mar 27th 2008 11:15PM]

By 2011, this thing will cost $15,000.

[Andrew Campbell @ Mar 27th 2008 11:17PM]

That's over $9000, correct?

[Backlin @ Mar 27th 2008 11:20PM]

Adjusted for future inflation.

[TIMMAH! @ Mar 28th 2008 4:50PM]

Actually on sale this week for $8995...

[Andrew Campbell @ Mar 28th 2008 9:58PM]

Fail.

[Andrew Campbell @ Mar 27th 2008 11:16PM]

t('_'t)

[Chris @ Mar 27th 2008 11:23PM]

It's probable that this will seem like old tech by 2011. Anyway, Mr. Picklesworth above said it all.