Some more low-down from PC World:
http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/004507.html
Try way upwards of $3000 to start. According to the above, this thing
is so expensive they are rolling it out with big corporate partners
only. Plans for home use "in the future"...
I've gotta say, Han's looks more exciting to me. His demo is flaired
towards the artistic and creative use of the interface, where
Microsoft's, while cool, is predictably limited by being born into
business applications (the first models will be used to sell phones
and play casino games???).
-Maurice
On 5/30/07, Andrews, Mark J. <MarkAndrews_at_creighton.edu> wrote:
> Problems with Surface include:
>
> * A very expensive table - how much, $3,000 to start?
>
> * Spill safe? Is this like the rust-proofing on a new car?
>
> * I have a 4-year old. What happens when he takes non-erasable
> Sharpie to my new Surface table?
>
> * Drivers? Yeah, right, it'll work right out of the box....
>
> * I once had an landlady with a cat named Ollie. One of Ollie's many
> talents was changing cable channels by rolling on the cable box. Why is
> a cat on the cable box? Because it's warm. How warm is my $3,000
> Surface table? Will it be able to recognize and ignore leaping pets and
> unruly children?
>
> * So, is it just a big input device? Will it replace my scanner?
> What will it be used for in junior high school - will some idiot kid try
> to scan their body parts and mail it to friends?
>
> * Interoperability - with my iPod (sorry, Zune - this is Microsoft
> we're talking about), with my Mac, with my television, Tivo and 5.1
> system?
>
> * Security - will it need a Faraday Cage to product me from
> electronic snooping? Is that built-in or at an extra cost? Maybe
> someone can weld one for me at Burning Man.
>
> Just a few thoughts....
>
> Mark Andrews
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
> [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Bernd T. Wunsch
> Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 3:04 AM
> To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
> Subject: [NGC4LIB] A Next Generation Tool for Libraries.
>
> Hi, Microsoft just launched it's new "Surface" Technology. It's
> basically Jeff Han's Multi-Touch research put into Action.
>
> This platform has the nice capability of "scanning" the items you put
> onto the surface, and creating interactions with them, by beeing a super
> high-tech touchscreen as well. This of course means that in a few years
> time, we better have these things all over our libraries, so people can
> interact with our book catalogs just by putting a book they like (or
> don't like) on to a surface, and then browse on from there. (Like the
> Microsoft video's do with phones).
>
> As Karen Coyle put's it: "librarians today are not using the best tool
> for the job." I would like to add that we need to get technology (new
> tools) INTO our library, and not just focus on how we get all of our
> library Material crammed into computers. When we guide people to finding
> books, we simply point to a computer in the library, and tell them to
> use the SAME tool as they could have done from home. This definitely
> doesn't add to the Library Coolness Factor. Next time our patrons visit
> our library, we should better have some kind of "wow-factor" which they
> couldn't get at home.
>
>
> Jeff Han's original: (youtube video's are out there too).
> http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/
>
> The new Microsoft Thing (with flash9 video goodness)
> http://www.microsoft.com/surface/
>
> - Bernd.
>
--
************************************
Maurice York
Associate Head, Information Technology
NCSU Libraries
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695
maurice_york_at_ncsu.edu
Phone: 919-515-3518
Received on Wed May 30 2007 - 12:25:13 EDT