Recently I rediscovered the Microsoft Surface project. I call it a project because Surface 2.0 never seemed to actually reach the consumer whose lives it would have ability to revolutionise. Nevertheless version two hit a little while ago but to be honest I didn’t hear anything about it which might be a sign of the times that none of the dozen or so sites I read covered the release with great appetite.
The new Surface 2.0 is to be widely available later this year, and again according to WinRumors will be priced lower than the first version of Surface.
I had the chance to play with Surface 1.0 in 2009 at the Smithsonian, and I found it to be a very powerful piece of research hardware. The new surface has taken the original concept and made it appropriate for mass consumption and use. Microsoft aims to tackle Apple’s iPad with Surface 2.0? Who are they kidding?
Surface was a great idea — for Microsoft and Samsung. The concept leveraged Microsoft’s input and graphics technology as well as the usual software-side productivity products; and it provided a new market for Samsung’s big LCD screens and computers. And here would be a market where margins could still be found, unlike that of commoditised high-definition televisions.
But no, Apple with their iPad rewrote the rules for multitouch collaboration economics. From its beginnings, the iPad’s apps along with iOS provided a rich environment for two or maybe three persons to collaborate. There are many deployments of the iPad in business and enterprise with this very feature in mind. Still this designer would love to see the Surface project come out and present it self for competition as they got there first.
One last thing, i’d love to be more positive but on searching and on twitter I dont seems to able to find much written on Surface 2.0 I can’t understand why surface hasn’t been bigger, I can see many instances where Surface (in Education, Healthcare and Creative dev) could be applied and could be a real alternative to the iPad and iOS including previous touch wall UI’s ive worked on. So lets hope we get a chance to design for it one day soon.
Related Links:
Microsoft Surface 2.0 home page
Under the Sea with Surface Development
Rent a SUR40
Very good post. Much obliged.
Say, you got a nice blog.Really thank you! Awesome.