Desktop to Tabletop with Microsoft Surface™

This morning on the Today Show, Bill Gates unveiled one of the coolest things I’ve seen come out of Microsoft is years. It’s a 42” x 21” inch table about 22 inches high with a 30 inch multi-point touch screen. It provides a computing experience that until now was only available in Sci-Fi movies. It’s called Microsoft Surface™ and you can see what it can do at http://www.microsoft.com/surface/.



While I love the demo applications I still haven’t seen what will be the killer application that will bring Surface to the main stream consumer. Without a practical killer app the Surface table top could just be a novelty and looks like a high definition version of Microsoft Bob. I’m sure it will have plenty of uses in Vegas but moving it into home will take some imagination.

Luckily, there are plenty of folks out there with imagination. My brain can’t stop thinking of potential killer apps. As soon as an SDK is available I’ll be getting my hands on it. Now that the device is public I’m sure I won’t be the only one.

Will I pay the estimated $5000–$10,000 initial price tag to have this cool toy in my home/office? Hard to say at this time but I know I want one. I may have to wait until they have one that tilts up like an easel or it will quickly kill my back. The ergonomics of the tabletop computer is a real drawback.