Microsoft set to launch Surface SDK this month

In a fashion not dissimilar from one tiny multitouch device (save the outcry), Microsoft's large multitouch device -- the Surface -- will be getting its very own SDK at Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference this month. The package, which the folks in Redmond have apparently been promising since April, will introduce developers to "vision-based object recognition" and something called ScatterView, and a session at the PDC will detail how the kit "aligns with the multitouch developer roadmap for Windows 7." All exciting stuff, but if we don't see a giant, multitouch version of FreeCell soon, we might just stop paying attention.

[Phantom_Lord @ Oct 7th 2008 8:33AM]

When is this beautiful thing going to come out!? I would like to see one in my clinic (my office of course)!

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Oct 7th 2008 8:53AM]

Already out.

[Jeff @ Oct 7th 2008 9:14AM]

Well since you own a clinic, you can probably afford the $10,000 price tag and also the hiring of programmers to build the software for you :P

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Oct 7th 2008 8:35AM]

I got an invite to this, wanna send me as your guy in the sky?

[kevin @ Oct 7th 2008 8:46AM]

the target audience for this sdk is HUGE, given that we all have surface tables in our home! Or maybe the point is that I can go all the way to the ATT store to play the most mind blowing solitaire evar!

[j_g_puff @ Oct 7th 2008 9:48AM]

On the subject of card games, don't you think this thing would be pretty good for poker?

(Obviously it wouldn't be as good as an actual deck of cards, but still)

[alexignatiou @ Oct 7th 2008 8:47AM]

Just in time!

It will pioneer multitouch!
[/sarcasm]

[hamza @ Oct 7th 2008 8:57AM]

You know when you put [/sarcasm] at the end, you need to put [sarcasm] first. Just so you know.

[KA @ Oct 7th 2008 12:03PM]

I prefer <sarcasm></sarcasm>

[Adam @ Oct 7th 2008 8:56AM]

Finally, MS is doing something original. Its been awhile. Oh yea, Phantom_Lord, MS Surface if Im not mistaken has long been on the market its just that it is very expensive so not many people adopted it. I can see the power of MS Surface on Tablet PC's and Kiosks but I don't see its purpose other more then that especially considering its going to be a key feature in Windows 7.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Oct 7th 2008 8:58AM]

Looks like a Rubbermaid bin.

[Monkey @ Oct 7th 2008 10:14AM]

A Rubbermaid bin WITH MULTITOUCH

[Jash Sayani @ Oct 7th 2008 8:58AM]

Wow! Do you get a Surface free with the SDK for debuggind apps.....!?!? :D

[SexyKittyKat2U @ Oct 7th 2008 9:25AM]

God that beast is HUGE.

[melloncollie @ Oct 7th 2008 9:37AM]

Yeah,
It's a fucking table.
What do you expect?

[Lunchbox @ Oct 7th 2008 9:39AM]

That's what she said.

[RichardR @ Oct 7th 2008 9:36AM]

As soon as this came up on my RSS screensaver, I just had to look at this midway through a shoot of (ironically) a segment of openbeta about multi touch.

Now, we may get the SDK, but can I got to MS and buy a microsoft surface for the studio (hint: answer is NO WAY)

Therefore rendering the SDK useless unless we get some kind of Surface emulator, I can find any way to simulate multi touch in an emulator beyond pinching (zooming).

and as a multi touch developer during my spare time, this means allot to me!

[Cybergypsy @ Oct 7th 2008 9:43AM]

It is pretty amazing, make a great coffee table :)

[JerkfacedFed @ Oct 7th 2008 9:44AM]

who are you haters kidding. youre just an apple fanboy zombies. if apple made this you would be all over it.

give credit where credit is due, this is a great idea for public places, and will eventually be great for the home when prices come down.

[Adam @ Oct 7th 2008 12:09PM]

Huh? What you mean? Everybody here is not exactly criticizing MS Surface

[Kizorblade @ Oct 7th 2008 11:23AM]

What? Says the Microsoft rabid fan.

"what kind of pathetic loser takes the time to photoshop fake pictures of crappy mac laptops??
get a f'king life and a real computer. apple sucks"

"loser, and steve jobs is not a god. he will be dead within the year.
balmer, on the other hand, will be alive and windows mobile 7 will be out."

Nice having tea with you.

[KA @ Oct 7th 2008 12:09PM]

I anyone makes a consumer-orientated version of this people would be all over it. Literally.

[Kaneda-Jones @ Oct 8th 2008 7:58AM]

what credit.. university students came up with it.. microsoft both 'bought' and 'stole' the surface so why would I want to support a bloated beast like mickysoft.

and no I do not think apple is any better.

corps suck

[*brotha @ Oct 7th 2008 10:15AM]

I must say that even as kind of pathetic as this thing seems in the picture, it really has alot of potential.

Its like something from a Sci-fi movie that is in ones home and you can control everything with it. In time i think these types of computers
could become very common place. Of course this is the first one so i doubt it will really be very good, but at least it will be the start.

Like the other guy says " it will be great for public spaces"

People often complain about Microsoft, however they forget how much they have done. I think its important for us to keep them alive , companies like Apple may make things look nice, shiny, or even cool features but the real innovative work that makes all these machines run is created my Microsoft. Lets hope that these late stumbles of theirs will only remind them to get back into shape and work as well as they can.

[SKI @ Oct 7th 2008 11:39AM]

Watch "The Island" for a view of where Surface is headed. Microsoft even paid a bunch to be featured in it (like that Xbox part). Coincidence?

[KA @ Oct 7th 2008 12:11PM]

The real innovation is, and always has been, done by people no-one's heard of and blatantly stolen by large businesses.

[roach @ Oct 7th 2008 10:30AM]

I would go to a restaurant that has one of these gadget.

[Sisyphus @ Oct 7th 2008 10:31AM]

Don't tell us to save the fucking outcry when you compare these SDK programs.

Microsoft SDK : Apple SDK :: Freeballing : Wearing a Nylon Micro-Thong

Save the equivocation.

[gappan @ Oct 7th 2008 10:32AM]

LOL

[gappan @ Oct 7th 2008 10:33AM]

LOL

[Vailylu @ Oct 7th 2008 10:43AM]

Finally! A basin with a monitor inside.

[Tiptup300 @ Oct 7th 2008 11:05AM]

I love how related SDKs are to the Iphone. In Engadget's world Apple is always relevant.

[aardWolf @ Oct 7th 2008 11:26AM]

[sarcasm]
Oh come on... Give it a menu button, and it's practically just a giant iPhone!
Little known fact, but the original inventor of dominoes (the game, not the pizza) stole his idea from an early implementation of the iPhone.
[/sarcasm]

[Jeff Lewis @ Oct 7th 2008 11:20AM]

Sisyphus and the other haters...

Or, you could not rely on Engadget to be telling the entire story.

Microsoft is building multitouch into Windows 7 for any device that supports it. In fact, there's a touchscreen system they're specifically supporting that unlike Apple's capacitive system, is a mixed mode touch/wacom style screen that lets you do both simple multitouch and pressure sensitive pen-based writing.

To do that, they have to get out an SDK which provides multitouch support now so developers can start working on building apps that use this. The Surface happens to be Microsoft's system - but the underlying technology is unpatented, so anyone can build and sell similar devices - this gives them a way to do it easily on Windows.

But with the right drivers, it should work with multitouch trackpads (Synaptics) and multitouch capacitive screens (Dell Latitiude XT) - which, while we're at it, is the ONLY multitouch laptop. Apple doesn't even have that yet. However, without something like this SDK and support in Win7, the Latitude doesn't really do anything interesting with that screen.

THAT'S why they're releasing this now.

[Jeff Lewis @ Oct 7th 2008 11:24AM]

Sisyphus and the other haters...

Or, you could not rely on Engadget to be telling the entire story.

Microsoft is building multitouch into Windows 7 for any device that supports it. In fact, there's a touchscreen system they're specifically supporting that unlike Apple's capacitive system, is a mixed mode touch/wacom style screen that lets you do both simple multitouch and pressure sensitive pen-based writing.

To do that, they have to get out an SDK which provides multitouch support now so developers can start working on building apps that use this. The Surface happens to be Microsoft's system - but the underlying technology is unpatented, so anyone can build and sell similar devices - this gives them a way to do it easily on Windows.

But with the right drivers, it should work with multitouch trackpads (Synaptics) and multitouch capacitive screens (Dell Latitiude XT) - which, while we're at it, is the ONLY multitouch laptop. Apple doesn't even have that yet. However, without something like this SDK and support in Win7, the Latitude doesn't really do anything interesting with that screen.

THAT'S why they're releasing this now.

[Sisyphus @ Oct 7th 2008 12:25PM]

Actually if you can read analogies properly, you'd realize I'm not hating on MSFT.

[JR @ Oct 7th 2008 11:26AM]

For what it's worth, I saw this last week on NBC. They were talking about the presidential polls and using this device and thought it was cool. It does have the "pinching" feature like the apple iPhone. I also saw them use it on the tabloid show, Acess Hollywood.

[LiveImagePhoto.com @ Oct 7th 2008 11:49AM]

right on Jeff.
My Latitude XT has its pinch, drag, drops but no wow app to make it a worthwhile purchace for the mass market (except maybe PlasmaPong). This SDK will boost development early and get apps out quick. I heard that surface is basically a offset of media center and uses almost the same GUI. This could mean alot in terms of how TOUCHLIB and MINImt builds their success if they are able to tap into this SDK.

You can all have Multitouch tables right now! for less than $50 bucks. all you have to do is search for TouchLIB and MiniMT. There are easier solutions out there other than paying $10,000 for the surface. The surface just has a better GUI, but those two companies are making inroads.

[Nic @ Oct 7th 2008 12:11PM]

Any idea if this ill work for capactivie multi touch devices such as the Dell Latitude XT?

[Steve @ Oct 7th 2008 12:11PM]

When are they going to put accelerometers into it and try pitching it as the worlds largest gaming console? They could call it the Xbox Touch. I'm sure it would be well received.

[KA @ Oct 7th 2008 12:17PM]

That's not an Xbox, it's a whole new console. To reiterate what I said above: The real innovation is, and always has been, done by people no-one's heard of and blatantly stolen by large businesses.

If they called it the Xbox Touch people would say they stole the style of the name from Apple.

[John @ Oct 7th 2008 12:29PM]

just so you know if you are lucky you will be able to play with the surface at bestbuy mobile standalone stores. There are only 3 of them launching, but if you are near fairfax va there will be one there...

[KA @ Oct 7th 2008 12:37PM]

Here's to the giant multitouch FreeCell.

[jondastunna84 @ Oct 7th 2008 1:07PM]

is about time microsoft gets original with something out of their own, instead of biting off other people

[Jubei @ Oct 7th 2008 1:09PM]

This hideous beast is the result when you leave MS at their own devices. They copied the iPhone/Touch Multi-touch feature and decided that in order for theirs to be better, it has to be bigger. Not better, but bigger. Resulting in the creation of this monstrosity of a device. A coffee table with "me too" multi-touch screen, couple with their "me too" SDK announcement for this device reeks of "i wanna be just like Apple". Hilarious.

[andrew @ Oct 7th 2008 1:21PM]

Microsoft started development and design of surface in 2003, 2005 saw the hardware finalised. That would be before any apple device with a "touch" interface. so I think you have things the wrong way around.

[Jubei @ Oct 7th 2008 1:33PM]

No. That is MS SOP for just about everything that they do to fool users into believing that they are capable of innovating.

[KA @ Oct 10th 2008 6:55PM]

@andrew

It's funny how people always compare the dates Microsoft start development with the dates Apple release it...

[HogCall @ Oct 7th 2008 1:53PM]

@Jubei - You have no idea what you are talking about. The iPhone and MS's Surface are totally different technologies. The iPhone has trademark's on it that mean MS can't use the same technology, and so this was built using a different method, from the ground up.

[dreamscape86 @ Oct 7th 2008 3:56PM]

I used a Microsoft Surface table just last week at NASA's Vision For Space Exploration Experience Exhibit (yes, that's seriously the whole name). It was set up running a multiplayer, semi-educational semi-game based on building a base on the moon. I have to admit that I was pretty underwhelmed. The touch response was very unreliable, and it would frequently (like basically every time you touched it) either ignore your touch or lose your drag halfway through a motion. The display resolution was surprisingly low as well. I would guess in the neighborhood of 1280x768, (1440x900 tops) which gets pretty rough when you consider the size of the table.

I think the technology is a really cool idea and has some potential after it's refined, but it has a long way to go before it's something you could use day in and day out without extreme irritation.