Definitely a great comparison with iphone in terms of significance. I can see how a potential radical shift in terms of how technology fits into the average persons life (surface) is equal to the relase of yet another smart phone, but this one with an Apple logo.

Steve Jobs could crap in a box, paint it white and call it iTurd and release it on the day the MSFT discovers cold fusion and it would be declared “a close call, but Apple really hit it out of the park and gets the nod for the more exciting announcement”

If this was positioned like a keyboard (which people use now for many games), what is the big issue with ergonomics, or positioning?

Re: ergonomics….. Who didn’t sit in front of a desk their entire gradeschool days? Since when is sitting in front of a large table an issue?

For some odd reason i’d like to think that Microsoft has us covered when it comes to ergonomics.

Yeah, the ergonomics of these is a big if.

Just try to stand up and keep your arms in the air in front of you and move them up and down at random for a while. It won’t be long at all until the isometric excercise you are then doing will start to be felt, and not much longer still before your arms are killing you.

The same thing is true for things like strategy gaming that people keep bringing up with these. You’ll be moving your arms a lot back and forth even if the display is mounted “properly” in front of you at an angle, and let’s not even talk about hunching over a coffee table.

Has anybody actually thought about the ergonomics of using this type of equipment?

It’s bad enough being hunched over your laptop or UMPC (trying to keep sunlight off the screen, most probably . However regular long term use can not only be uncomfortable but also unhealthy (just look at the number of RSI/WURLDS claims).

On another note, how many people complain about keyboards on UMPC’s, laptops, smartphones that have poor travel and little feedback. I guess inputing information (doesn’t have to be alot just enough for an e-mail, ala smartphone/PPC) on an unresponsive glass table will take some getting used to (TIP anyone!).

Even if the format was changed to a TV like display, would you want to walk across the room to interact with your playlist?

Don’t get me wrong the technology is very interesting, but like UMPC’s, first you have to think about what do you want out of it, then how much are you prepared to work at making it work for you?

I for one am more interested in the wireless technology rather than the touch tech, as being able to use my WM phone as the sole unit to turn on my home lights, switch on the tv and select my playlist, as soon as I walk through my front door or even from my car seat appears much more amenable to me than poking the coffee table (I know some of the functions are already available through vnc clients and the like, but they are hardly intuitive, or just work in an easy to set up and use, sense).

Anyway just my random thoughts on the matter.

I want to see this extended to gaming. If anyone has downloaded the HD version of “Tom Clancy’s EndWar”, the “general” is using a surface type device. For gaming, especially RTS’s, this could be really great for the genre.

Good bye mouse and keyboard, hello the location of troops, and all your commands on 1 surface.

Thinking more about this…this could take over the keyboard as well. Like the glass tiles you see the MS employee put down on the screen for the video…what about a moveable keyboard pad that can be registered. I think the possibilities (liek with UMPCs) are as endless as what ppl want to use them for.

This is great news, but the only way we will actually have this in x years, is to tell Bill G and everyone else at the Redmond Bubble, that we want it in our homes Yesterday. Only if potential customers pressure MSFT to lower costs and make the product affordable and publicly available will it happen.

Let me put it to you like this….

You wont need your UMPC in the living room if you can check your email on the coffeetable while watching tv.

Oh, the irony! The above comment (Mike’s) from a self-proclaimed device fondler.

Cool stuff! However, you are going to have a difficult time taking a coffee table with you “on the run” (which apparently means going to Starbucks).

Tax Man

>>>I’m constantly touching the device to interact with it.

Is there any truth to the rumor that the future TV commercials for this will feature the song, “When I Think Of You I Touch Myself”?

Long term, I see all office desks moving towards Surface. I see all office desks by 2025 in US (earlier, definitely not later) being ‘Surface’d.

These times will be remebered as a time when two major events happened that changed computing forever. First, the announcement of Surface and the second, shipping of iPhone.

Looking how bad Microsoft sells the tablet PC or the UMPC, expect this concept to land on our tables within 10-15 years

I won’t say it is a super big deal but it definitely opens up more possibilities on how human interact with computer beyond mouse and keyboard. This also brings new dimension to touch screen technology which is good news for us, Tablet PC users. Hopefully this technology will eventually be brought to home.