Hoo boy, here we go again.
Just as Apple releases the iPhone, Microsoft is gearing up to release a new and similar technology of its own called Microsoft Surface. It’s a lot like iPhone — only bigger. Much bigger.
The iPhone’s main attraction is its touch-screen technology, which has been refined to the point that you no longer need a stylus, but can use your finger to peck away at it. This puts iPhone technology into a higher realm, called gesture-recognition technology. You know the stuff, you saw Tom Cruise using a slightly more advanced version of it in The Minority Report, in which he waved his hands about like a traffic cop and the computer rearranged various images to form some sort of ... well, whatever dystopian horror it was.
Now Microsoft Surface is going in the same direction. While the iPhone is a tiny handheld device, Surface is a honking great tabletop screen — as big as a coffee table, perhaps considerably higher, and only Microsoft knows how heavy (or expensive) it will be. You drag your fingers across the screen it and images are moved or resized, text can be scrawled on it and a child can finger-paint another masterpiece.
Surface, announced officially May 30, promises a lot of sexy effects, especially when two Surface computers are networked — as this video from Popular Mechanics shows.
Due out in November, Surface is going to get its share of hype, perhaps given extra hysteria to counterbalance the awesome hype surrounding the iPhone. Let’s just hope the insanity doesn’t push Surface into the realm of comedy.
Well, actually, it already has, and Surface hasn’t even been released. A hilarious parody if Microsoft’s early promotion has been posted to Youtube by a group known as The Sarcastic Gamer.
This is all in good fun, but I can see what will happen already. The Apple Rage Boys will note that since Microsoft’s version will be released after Apple’s iPhone, they will accuse Microsoft of copying Apple. Which was always first with everything, the perpetually offended fans note, bursting with venom and arguments.
Frankly, it won’t matter one whit who comes out with a product first, or who developed it first — we’ll never get a straight answer from Apple or Microsoft anyway, lest they blow their industrial espionage covers. The real test will be time — the product that sticks around the longest is the winner.
As far as I’m concerned, gesture technology is in its infancy, though I know Apple has been nailing down a lot of patents in that area for the past few years. I’m more interested in seeing better products, not who is coming out with them.
