June 6, 2007
Microsoft's Surface Interface
The buzz this week in the UX community has been on the Microsoft Surface computer. If you're unfamiliar, you can view a video of it here. Now, maybe it's because I'm a Mac person and maybe I'm tending to view this as a strategic move on Microsoft's part to distract a bit of the momentum from Apple's pending iPhone launch, but I'm not as impressed as everyone else seems to be. There were a couple of big things that didn't quite sit right with me:
* There already is a company, PerceptivePixel, that is building these interfaces for use by the military (which is a great application of this technology, by the way).
* This technology has been around, according to the Popular Mechanics video, since the 1980's.
Now, admittedly, the wireless device-to-device transfer bit is cool. But why is everyone running up and down the halls screaming and waving their hands like their hair is on fire? Honestly, my very first reaction when I watched this was "this is going to revolutionize Kodak photo centers in the local Walgreens drug stores everywhere." Is that a good enough reason to buy a device that will cost $5,000 - 10,000? I'm just not seeing the application here. It's a kiosk with features.
Now, granted, they said they're going after the commercial sector first, which is probably the best application for this device, but I can't help but think about how this will transfer over to the personal sector. Portability is a huge issue. I can't pick it up and carry it. It's GOT to remain a tabletop device in order for the cool device-to-device transfers to occur (how can you set your phone on something mounted to a wall??), but in a house with two kids, I'm just not seeing it. It did a cool interactive animation in response to a water glass. I wonder how it would display a reaction to dried-on Gogurt and Goldfish cracker crumbs?
The other concern I have is the ergonomic considerations of this device. Totally cool for "driveby" computing in a lounge or in some other kiosk environment, but this thing is not designed for long-time computing use. Imagine how sore your back and neck will be if you tried to use this for an afternoon to construct your favorite simulation. Even if you angled up the interface much in the same way that we used to angle drafting tables, it's still going to be a lot of strain. The multi-touch features are really cool as well, and in that instance, it makes more sense for it to be wall mounted. But again, it's geared to driveby computing. Can you imagine using a wall-based computer for an afternoon? It could be pitched as the next great upper body workout.
Finally, I'm fast-forwarding to the day where this does enter homes and we begin to be bombarded by gigantic colorful, moving ads that fill the screen. Combine this with the Microsoft engineer's statement that some day all surfaces will be computers, and it gives me the willies because we will be forced to seek solitude in new ways. I bet I am not the only one thinking of this, though. I imagine the online marketing industry will not be able to see their Surface computers what for salivating all over them...
Posted by Laurie at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)
