Microsoft has more than once hinted that it is interested in releasing the Microsoft Surface to the general public, assuming that it can cut the price down significantly enough. We haven't heard many details about what Redmond has been up to on this front, but now some intriguing ones have surfaced (pardon the pun). Microsoft recently sent out a marketing survey for a horizontal multitouch computing device codenamed Oahu (which appropriately translates to "The Gathering Place"). Oahu is likely to be consumer version of the Microsoft Surface, and Microsoft is currently estimating that such a device would set a family back $1,500.
According to the survey's description of Oahu, it really is a Microsoft Surface: more than one person can interact with it at the same time, touching icons open up programs, games, or music, fingertips are used to expand and shrink objects on the screen, an on-screen keyboard can be used to input information, it communicates wirelessly with other devices (such as digital cameras, cell phones, and MP3 players), and there is no wait time to start it up. The survey also notes that Oahu can come as a freestanding table, placed into a piece of furniture, or built into a countertop. Microsoft also makes a point to emphasize that the device is in no way portable and that the size allows four people to sit around it "comfortably."
According to the survey's description of Oahu, it really is a Microsoft Surface: more than one person can interact with it at the same time, touching icons open up programs, games, or music, fingertips are used to expand and shrink objects on the screen, an on-screen keyboard can be used to input information, it communicates wirelessly with other devices (such as digital cameras, cell phones, and MP3 players), and there is no wait time to start it up. The survey also notes that Oahu can come as a freestanding table, placed into a piece of furniture, or built into a countertop. Microsoft also makes a point to emphasize that the device is in no way portable and that the size allows four people to sit around it "comfortably."
but it is not something of neccity like tv , refgrator , telephone ,,, etc
but cool factor tho
Seconded.
Posting drunk is fun. I'm doing it now... I kinda like it... yeah. :-P
wow post police over here, its a forum people can post however they want within the rules.
The idea was that you would use it to archive your family memories; you placed photographs on the surface and it would scan them in and 'place them in a box in the attic' (on the display). You could then use gestures to open up boxes, tip them over, spilling out the contents onto the 'floor'. You could then drag them around, enlarge them etc.
What was quite nifty was the device also had a special camera mounted on the top that would make a model of 3D objects; for example the presenter scanned his daughters first pair of shoes into the machine, which created a 3D model of them inside the surface. He could rotate them, zoom in etc. The concept was that it's not just photographs of memories but the actual objects themselves that you could 'backup'.
I can't remember what they called the product though. The guy said it was more than just surface though and was a whole separate project, perhaps this is the product the article is talking about being used in the home.
It's going fine...
It is a good form for scanning though. Lay your picture down on the flat surface at the scanning location. Then.. umm... i guess close your eyes as the bright light illuminates the image.
the way it communicates with other devices is with some kind of optical tag right?
so wouldn't there need to be a lot of these devices out there for "the average family" to even make use of the table?
I've seen dining room tables that cost that much.
So if you're getting a computer and a table in one, that's pretty much a two-for-one!
SilverB.
..... in AUD that is
This is what Microsoft should be focused on. Great job now make good software to run it.
1. If you spilled something or dropped something it wouldn't break it.
2. It was tested that it isn't harmful to your health
3. Updates are free and you had a great warranty with it.
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