Microsoft Surface on sale this June... on board a Lazzara yacht

You heard right, folks. There's absolutely no need to wait until 2011 in order to buy yourself a personal Surface. Instead, you can grab one of Microsoft's multitouch phenomenons this June, but there's just one tiny catch: it comes attached at the waist with a multi-million dollar yacht. Down at the Miami Yacht & Brokerage Show this month, Lazzara Yachts showcased its soon-to-be-released LMC 76, which -- coincidentally enough -- comes loaded with a Surface along with software from Infusion Development. The boat (and by extension, the Surface) should be ready to take on the open seas in just a few months, but there's no indication yet on exactly how many New York banks you'll have to rob in order to make it happen. If you need some encouragement on turning to the dark side, a hands-on demo video is just past the break.

[Via Beyond | IT, thanks Roy]

Read - Details from Lazzara
Read - Hands-on experience

[DTOlness @ Feb 26th 2009 7:59AM]

seems like there is a lag when making the pictures bigger with multi-touch

[Templarian @ Feb 26th 2009 8:10AM]

I think its the easing, since it's so smooth.

I still want to play an RTS on one.

[Phenoum @ Feb 26th 2009 11:51AM]

Either
A) she sucks at using multitouch - half the time she doesn't get it to work

B) the multitouch needs to be improved in order to increase sensitivity

I'm going to go with....... BOTH.... She's a sales person, not a tech/computer person and thinks she knows how to work it, but ends up looking like a kid trying to ride a bike for the first time.....

[usedHONDA @ Feb 26th 2009 7:16PM]

I've actually used a Surface table once at Lockheed Martin. Personally, I didn't see any significant lag (at least on the table I was testing).

Actually, I must say that using the table is more fun that I thought it would be. It feels just like a real table, not like an iPhone, so touching seems a little more natural and physical.

[benn @ Feb 26th 2009 9:13AM]

this is really exciting, the microsoft surface is really exciting
we can use them in bars, so whenever my glass is empty i neednot ask the bearer to get few more, even i need not wait for the waiter to come and take my menu when i go to hotel i can just click my menu from this MS, automatically my order will be taken. sounds great

[Grindboy @ Feb 26th 2009 8:12AM]

After seeing that resistive multitouch screen at MWC surface seems outdated!

[Richard @ Feb 26th 2009 8:57AM]

Really? I'd take the infrared detection that Surface uses over resistive any day.

[Charles @ Feb 26th 2009 8:12AM]

If I see another video of someone rotating and resizing photographs on a touch screen display I think I'll go mad. That video very successfully demonstrates how utterly usless this technology is for any practical purposes. Even the bit where he's using the blocks of wood to change the interior decoration is ridiculous. It could be done much better with a line of buttons showing the different wood patterns instead of having to mess around with blocks of wood that are a pain to use and that will probably going missing. It's technology for the sake of it. All flash and no functionality.

[Jason @ Feb 26th 2009 8:31AM]

I will disagree with you about the wood blocks issue.. While yes buttons might be convenient, but myself, as an actual woodworker (no not a carpenter, I use as few nails/screws as possible and more quality handmade dovetail/mortise and tenon joints), you cannot really get a good feel for the wood (heh.....) without physically seeing it. Unfortunately, even in high end boats, almost off of the wood finish is veneered over marine grade plywood (MDF is useless since it swells around moisture), as they use rare cuts or wood (burl for example)... but now I am getting off topic.

I can think of plenty of ways surface would be useful, I said in another post, link it to the systems navigation and and boat control systems, that would be cool... but as I see it now, surface on this particular yacht is just an advertising tool

[tigs @ Feb 26th 2009 8:14AM]

It looks like MS stole the Surface water background from Koi Pond.

[Sin @ Feb 26th 2009 8:24AM]

Real users would get frustrated..
The demonstrator just uses the picture she catches or just moves on to the next

[james @ Feb 26th 2009 8:25AM]

2011... aw maan!

[Jason @ Feb 26th 2009 8:26AM]

Okay.. so its a great advertising tool... useful for selling that multi million dollar boat.. but outside of that and basic multimedia purposes.. what use is it..

Personally, I would rather see some integration with the boats systems, navigation, security cameras (this one is probably not that hard to do), that type of stuff...

[Luke @ Feb 26th 2009 8:27AM]

Im definitely going to buy one of these, and shoot some music videos.

*"Im on a boat, Im on a boat, take a look at me and my surface-equipped boat!"

[Kinger @ Feb 26th 2009 9:25AM]

dude, it's so worth it.
Think of how many hits you would get on YouTube.

[Brianyman @ Feb 26th 2009 8:45AM]

microsoft surface technology is simply awesome.
Amazing Microsoft Surface Pictures -
http://www.techreviews4u.com/2009/02/26/amazing-microsoft-surface-pictures/

[Richard @ Feb 26th 2009 8:56AM]

I think Surface has a lot of potential over a few more years of development, but it isn't ready yet. I've had the chance to play with them a number of times over the last couple years at various defense conferences and they are still pretty buggy and unresponsive sometimes. And yeah, I've seen a fair share of blue screens.

I think the biggest flaw is that the surface program is still just windows with a skin. They needed to start fresh with something just for this application. Just my opinion...

[Jeff @ Feb 26th 2009 9:53AM]

Rob New York banks? There's no money to rob! Unless of course its federal bailout money, then you're just stealing from yourself.

[crescentdavid @ Feb 26th 2009 12:18PM]

No, you want to own a bankrupted bank. Then the feds will give you the $$$$.

[Eason @ Feb 26th 2009 10:15AM]

It's completely useless...

[Hackettman @ Feb 26th 2009 10:34AM]

So why arent these made commercially yet? I mean the yacht market cant be so good that itd be a good business decision to have it on there......

[GeneMack @ Feb 26th 2009 10:41AM]

I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Like other's have said, they seem to be using this only as advertising the boat at the boat show, which is nice, but why not feature the things that can be done with it once you own the boat. These yachts are full of technology and it could all be tightly integrated with the Surface - electrical systems, mechanical systems, propulsions systems, cameras, radar, GPS.

Hell, on a 76 foot yacht, you have a hell of a galley, with little effort, you could pull up a real time inventory and create a shopping list for when you are in port to stock up.

There are a 1,000 uses for the Surface in this application and all we get to see is re-sizing photos and videos again. I like using the wood samples to see what it would like like in the finished product, but that's not something that you are going to do once you own this yacht.

[jimjobe @ Feb 26th 2009 10:58AM]

I kept thinking to myself: "Surely she's going to demonstrate something besides moving images around and zooming in and out." Having something like that on a yacht could have some seriously cool application for charting & navigation beyond the glorified digital picture frame they made it out to be...it's just a shame she didn't show any of it.

[crescentdavid @ Feb 26th 2009 12:22PM]

Resizing and zooming photos and flipping browser pages is what apple showed the world and what the journos and applets creamed over. It's become a genre by now. Look at my multitouch~ pan, zoom, flip and one. Pan, zoom, flip and two .... I'm not excusing the sales end ... if that's the best they can do ... I look forward to seeing their foreclosure sales.

[Lawrence @ Feb 26th 2009 12:30PM]

I don't think people read the actual article.

It does more than just pictures and video, even though the demo doesn't show it. I think there is a youtube video showing the apps made by Infussion. It is integrated with the boat's security system, lightining, entertainment controls and also navigation (setup trips and check the ports to stop at, but don't think the actual boat control). It has something about "social connectivity", they say connects to the other boats who have surfaces on the. It's also integrated with MS's Virtual Earth, which I would guess would link to the GPS as well.

I'm pretty impressed with it, and hope this will lead to it dropping in price sooner than 2011.

[elBravo @ Feb 26th 2009 1:33PM]

The technology seems pretty good and very useful. But the software and current implementations are terrible. Maybe that is why it won't come out until 2011.

The Surface needs either it's own operating system, or a heavily modified windows version. The price of the hardware needs to come down to make it more desirable to businesses. I could only imagine this as part of my office desk (with dual screen/keyboard/mouse to also replace my current computer). It would cut down on a lot of hard-copy clutter that always seems to reach a torrent status by the end of the week. Using the surface with an interface such as BumpTop (http://bumptop.com/) would be amazing. View pdf's, edit spreadsheets directly with a more tactile experience. Utilize handwriting recognition and multiple types of styli to perform different tasks ("pencil" stylus to scribble notes in documents, or "pen" stylus to "type" directly into document with reaching over everything for the keyboard/mouse). Maintain that feel of physical hard-copy while remaining in the digital domain.

Or use the Surface in a kitchen table for recipes, checking email, leaving notes (or whatever else that verizon hub thing does). And yes, rotating and resizing pictures. The videos of the Surface interfacing w/ wifi digital cameras looks amazing!

Basically, IMHO, I think the biggest advances in computing this next decade will be how we interface with them. The Surface seems to be a great start to this new evolution.

[zsmorr @ Feb 26th 2009 2:34PM]

Must be nice being rich.. I would have one of these on my yacht lol.....

[TB @ Feb 26th 2009 3:21PM]

The Broad Institute (broad.mit.edu) actually got some Microsoft Surface screens in today. They're supposedly going to be tested and installed over the next couple of weeks. They'll be in display in the lobby to have interactive genomic timeline information and a virtual tour I believe, so if you're in/around Cambridge MA, let us know if they're in in the lobby yet.

[Rich Lazzara @ Feb 26th 2009 5:38PM]

Good comments from all. Yeah the application of the Surface in this instance is for our phase 1 retail application. Phase 2 and the one that is much more exciting and commensurate with what Surface can do will be out this Summer. Introducing this technology into our product at Lazzara Yachts is taking some time. So we thought we would first introduce it to our customers in a retail setting so that when they started seeing them on the yachts they would be use to them. Maybe not glamours right now but wait until you see it at phase 2. Yes it will control some yacht systems, it will having mapping/GPS location based info, it will have an interactive owners manual, it will have the ability to network with other yachts, etc etc. We have only scratched the surface, literally. Great comments and ideas and feel free to follow the progress on our website or my blog richlazzara.com Thanks Rich Lazzara

[Billy @ Feb 27th 2009 11:11AM]

omg the potential is just unimaginable! everytime I see this they are utilizing the tech in some new way. cant wait to see how this will change the game in a few years