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.

[SFgadgetman Posted Oct 7th 2008 4:43PM]

why so effing big?

[SFgadgetman Posted Oct 7th 2008 4:52PM]

I mean why is it so effing big?


Couldn't they make it a little smaller like an iPhone?

[Dreamscape86 Posted 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.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 8th 2008 8:01AM]

how well was it lit? this uses a camera to look up and see the shadows that you are making when you touch it, so trying to drag something while in a bright room may suffer.

[Ed T Posted Oct 8th 2008 1:46PM]

Surface SDK? Roll out? This is proof that Steve Ballmer knows how to fit a square peg in a round hole -- he just picks up a bigger hammer.