Microsoft Surface

Microsoft Surface is a multi-touch product from Microsoft which is developed as

software and hardware combination technology that allows a user, or multiple users, to
manipulate digital content by the use of gesture recognition. This could involve the
motion of hands or physical objects. It was announced on May 29, 2007 at D5
conference. Initial customers will be in the hospitality businesses, such as restaurants,
hotels, retail, public entertainment venues and the military for tactical overviews. The
preliminary launch was on April 17, 2008, when Surface became available for customer
use in AT&T stores.

Microsoft Surface
 Contents

1. Overview

2. History

3. Features

4. Structure

5. Working

6. Specification

7. Advantage

8. Disadvantage

9. Future Innovation

10. Conclusion
Overview

Microsoft Surface is a surface computing platform that responds to natural hand

gestures and real world objects. It has a 360-degree user interface, a 30-inch reflective
surface with a XGA DLP projector underneath the surface which projects an image onto
its underside, while five cameras in the machine's housing record reflections of infrared
light from objects and human fingertips on the surface. The surface is capable of object
recognition, object/finger orientation recognition and tracking, and is multi-touch and is
multi-user. Users can interact with the machine by touching or dragging their fingertips
and objects such as paintbrushes across the screen, or by placing and moving placed
objects. This paradigm of interaction with computers is known as a natural user interface
(NUI).
Surface has been optimized to respond to 52 touches at a time. A commercial
Microsoft Surface unit is $12,500 (unit only), whereas a developer Microsoft Surface unit
costs $15,000 and includes a developer unit, five seats and support.

Partner companies use the Surface in their hotels, restaurants, and retail stores.
The Surface is used to choose meals at restaurants, plan vacations and spots to visit from
the hotel room. Starwood Hotels plan to allow users to drop a credit card on the table to
pay for music, books, and other amenities offered at the resort. In AT&T stores, use of
the Surface include interactive presentations of plans, coverage, and phone features, in
addition to dropping two different phones on the table and having the customer be able to
view and compare prices, features, and plans. MSNBC's coverage of the 2008 US
presidential election used Surface to share with viewers information and analysis of the
race leading up to the election. The anchor analyzes polling and election results,
views trends and demographic information and explores county maps to determine voting
patterns and predict outcomes, all with the flick of his finger. In some hotels and casinos,
users can do a range of things, such as watch videos, view maps, order drinks, play
games, and chat and flirt with people between Surface tables.

History

The product idea for Surface was initially conceptualized in 2001 by Steven
Bathiche of Microsoft Hardware and Andy Wilson of Microsoft Research.

In October 2001, a virtual team was formed with Bathiche and Wilson as key
members, to bring the idea to the next stage of development.
 In 2003, the team presented the idea to the Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, in a
group review. Later, the virtual team was expanded and a prototype nicknamed T1 was
produced within a month. The prototype was based on an IKEA table with a hole cut in
the top and a sheet of architect vellum used as a diffuser. The team also developed some
applications, including pinball, a photo browser and a video puzzle. Over the next year,
Microsoft built more than 85 early prototypes for Surface. The final hardware design
was completed in 2005.

A similar concept was used in the 2002 science fiction movie Minority Report. As
noted in the DVD commentary, the director Steven Spielberg stated the concept of the
device came from consultation wit Microsoft during the making of the movie. One of the
film's technology consultant's associates from MIT later joined Microsoft to work on the
Surface project.

Surface was unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on May 30, 2007 at The
Wall Street Journal's 'D: All Things Digital' conference in Carlsbad, California Surface
Computing is part of Microsoft's Productivity and Extended Consumer Experiences
Group, which is within the Entertainment & Devices division. The first few companies to
deploy Surface will include Harrah's Entertainment, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide, T-Mobile and a distributor, International Game Technology.

On April 17, 2008 AT&T became the first retail location to launch Surface. In
June 2008 Harrah’s Entertainment launched Microsoft Surface at Rio iBar and
Disneyland launched it in Tomorrowland, Innoventions Dream Home. On August 13,
2008 Sheraton Hotels introduced Surface in their hotel lobbies at 5 locations. On
September 8, 2008 MSNBC began using the Surface to work with election maps for the
2008 US Presidential Election on air. MSNBC's political director, Chuck Todd, was
placed at the helm.

2005: Attention turned to its form factor- Tub proto type was designed.

Tub Proto Type

 2007: Final structure finalized, interactive tabletop device was built that
seamlessly brings both the physical and virtual worlds into one.

Table Top

Features
Microsoft notes four main components being important in Surface's interface:

 Direct interaction,
 Multi-touch contact
 Multi-user experience
 Object recognition.

Direct interaction refers to the user's ability to simply reach out and touch the
interface of an application in order to interact with it, without the need for a mouse or
keyboard.

Direct Interaction
 Multi-touch contact refers to the ability to have multiple contact points with an
interface, unlike with a mouse, where there is only one cursor. Surface computing
recognizes many points of contact simultaneously, not just from one finger, as with a
typical touch screen, but up to dozens and dozens of items at once.

Multi-touch contact

Multi-user is a benefit of multi-touch -- several people can orient themselves on

different sides of the surface to interact with an application simultaneously.

Multi-user
 Object recognition refers to the device's ability to recognize the presence and
orientation of tagged objects placed on top of it.

Object recognition

The technology allows non-digital objects to be used as input devices. In one

example, a normal paint brush was used to create a digital painting in the software. This
is made possible by the fact that, in using cameras for input, the system does not rely on
restrictive properties required of conventional touch screen or touchpad devices such as
the capacitance, electrical resistance, or temperature of the tool used (see Touch screen).

The computer's "vision" is created by a near-infrared, 850-nanometer-wavelength

LED light source aimed at the surface. When an object touches the tabletop, the light is
reflected to multiple infrared cameras with a net resolution of 1024 x 768, allowing it to
sense, and react to items touching the tabletop.

Surface will ship with basic applications, including photos, music, virtual
concierge, and games, that can be customized for the customers.

A unique feature that comes preinstalled with Surface is the pond effect "Attract"
application. Simply, it is a ―picture" of water with leaves and rocks within it (a lot like a
screen saver used in Windows XP or Vista). By touching the screen, you can create
ripples in the water just like you were putting your hand into a real stream.
Additionally, the pressure of touch alters the size of the ripple created, and objects placed
into the water create a barrier that ripples bounce off, just as they would in real life.
Structure

(1) Screen: A diffuser turns the Surface's acrylic tabletop into a large horizontal
"multitouch" screen, capable of processing multiple inputs from multiple users. The
Surface can also recognize objects by their shapes or by reading coded "domino" tags.

(2) Infrared: Surface's "machine vision" operates in the near-infrared spectrum, using
an 850-nanometer-wavelength LED light source aimed at the screen. When objects touch
the tabletop, the light reflects back and is picked up by multiple infrared cameras with a
net resolution of 1280 x 960.

3) CPU: Surface uses many of the same components fond in everyday desktop computers
— a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM and a 256MB graphics card. Wireless
communication with devices on the surface is handled using WiFi and Bluetooth
antennas (future versions may incorporate RFID or Near Field Communications). The
underlying operating system is a modified version of Microsoft Vista.

(4) Projector: Microsoft's Surface uses the same DLP light engine found in many rear
projection HDTVs. The footprint of the visible light screen, at 1024 x 768 pixels, is
actually smaller than the invisible overlapping infrared projection to allow for better
recognition at the edges of the screen.
Working

Microsoft Surface uses cameras to sense objects, hand gestures and touch.
This user input is then processed and displayed using rear projection.

Microsoft Surface uses this rear projection system which displays an image
onto the underside of thin diffuser.

Image processing system processes the camera images to detect fingers,

custom tags and other objects such as paint brushes when touching the
display.

The objects recognized with this system are reported to applications running
in the computer so that they can react to object shapes, 2D tags, movement
and touch.

Specifications

Surface is a 30-inch (76 cm) display in a table-like form factor, 22 inches (56 cm)
high, 21 inches (53 cm) deep, and 42 inches (107 cm) wide.[16]. The Surface tabletop is
acrylic, and its interior frame is powder-coated steel.

At Microsoft's MSDN Conference, Bill Gates told developers of "Maximum"

setup the Microsoft Surface was going to have:

Intel Core Quad Xeon "WoodCrest" @ 2.66GHz with a custom motherboard form
factor about the size of two ATX motherboards.

4GB DDR2-1066 RAM

1TB 7200RPM Hard Drive

The current commercially available version has the following specifications:

Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.13GHz

2GB DDR2 RAM

250GB SATA Hard Drive

Education Implications
Today’s computers allow you to have multiple applications in multiple windows
but they probably only have one keyboard and mouse which means only one
person can operate at a time. These Surfaces engage the senses, improve
collaboration, and empower the students by having everything available to them
at their finger tips.

Interactive Classrooms: The multi-touch surface computers will encourage the

students to interact with content and each other promoting group work and team
building skills.

Students would have custom built hardware where they can create their
assignments and teachers may be able to see it instantly and help the students.

Students sitting around the table may open a file, push it across, drag it, modify it,
and let another student add or delete information and then save the document.

In a photography class, the students could share their images instantly.

In an art class, one student could be painting with a paint brush while another is
drawing with her finger. Both the paint brush and the finger would be recognized.

In Business classes, specifically accounting, having access to a computer right at

your finger tips will help the students learn faster and comprehend on a higher
level I believe. It’s a lot easier to follow along on an Excel spreadsheet when you
can highlight the cell and see for yourself what the formula is or where that
amount came from. Allowing students the ability to actively participate while
teaching them about constructing a balance sheet will make it easier for the
students to not only comprehend the material but also retain the material in my
opinion.

In a geography class each student could find a specific location and the maps
could be displayed instantly.

Teachers would not have to worry about finding space in a computer lab in order
for the students to create projects or conduct research.

Students could share pod casts or other information related to a certain project
that they have saved to their flash drive just by laying the device on the surface.
Advantage
Large surface area to view different windows and applications.

Data Manipulation - Selecting, moving, rotating and resizing (manipulating

objects on the screen is similar to manipulating them in the manual world).

Quick and easy to use.

More Than One User –Several people can orient themselves on different sides of
the surface to interact with an application simultaneously (Max 52 points of
touch).

Object Recognition - Increased functionality aiding user in speed and ease of use

The administration of a classroom can be improved by reducing the amount of

time a teacher spends fulfilling paperwork requirements alone, such as test taking
and scoring.

The tests could be included in each student’s desktop and automatically recorded
and scored.

The teacher's desktop could have the ability to look at each student's desktop from
their desk and take control if necessary. This can be used to help a student having
trouble or to verify that the student is staying on task.

Also, teachers would have the ability to send presentations to any or all desktops
eliminating the need for print outs and copies.

A chat system like IM could be set up so that the teacher could send a private note
to a student during a class exercise without bringing attention to the student
whether it is positive or negative.

If a problem occurred on one Surface, that student could move to another

student’s desk and work along with them until theirs was fixed.

By engaging the students and combining both the audio and visual aspects in
every lesson plan, we have a better chance of reaching every student and
increasing the percentage of information retained.

Students will be able to work in groups at one desktop Surface. This would make
the construction of projects easier. Also, students will be able to work on class
assignments together or help each other and sometimes students are able to learn
and understand better when the information is delivered or reiterated from their
peers in a more creative fashion.
Disadvantage
Not portable and very expensive.

Privacy - Open for many to view.

Screen Visibility - Glare, finger prints/dirt and human interaction obscuring

interface.

Poor Accuracy - Fat fingers are not as accurate as a mouse or stylus.

Fatigue - Reaching across the table often can cause the arms to ache.

Objects needs to be tagged (domino tags or RFIDs).

The technology is currently expensive and just beginning to gain some

recognition out in the marketplace.

If these tables have the ability to have 4 students to each one, privacy becomes an
issue which will need to be addressed especially during test taking times.
Also, you wouldn’t want one student to be able to reach over and delete another
student’s work.

Another disadvantage would be that technology is unreliable and if a problem

occurred with an application class would be disrupted even if only for a short
period of time.

Future Innovations

Surface will continue to be sold to and used by restaurants, retail, leisure and
public entertainment venues.

Computer scientists hope to incorporate this kind of technology in peoples’ daily

lives… Future goals are to surround people with intelligent surfaces (look up
recipes on your kitchen counter or table, control TV with coffee table, etc.

Eventually every household may have one in place of their everyday coffee table.
Conclusion
Microsoft Surface is the future of computers.

Fundamentally changes the way we interact with technology.

Surface takes existing technology and presents it in a new way. It isn't simply a
touch screen, but more of a touch-grab-move-slide-resize-and-place-objects-on-
top-of-screen and this opens up new possibilities that weren't there before.
Resources

http://www.multitouchtechnology.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html

http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Table/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/23/kids-on-with-the-smart-table/

http://blogs.msdn.com/surface/archive/2008/11/04/surface-your-end-users-and-
you.aspx