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Microsoft finally makes Surface units, SDK available to developers

Posted by Joshua Karp on Oct 27, 2008 7:03 pm 8 comments
Filed in Windows Vista

Have you been pining after one of Microsoft’s slick multi-touch behemoths but don’t happen to have the bankroll or connections of, say, Harrah’s Casino? Today might be your lucky day. Microsoft has announced the limited initial availability of an SDK for the Surface computing environment. Scheduled to be released at the Microsoft Professional Developers conference today. More than 1,000 developers in attendence will receive exclusive rights to access the Surface SDK. Additionally, anyone with access to the SDK will be given the opportunity to purchase a developers unit for the bargain basement price of $13,500. The SDK itself will allow developers to:

build applications that take advantage of the unique attributes of Microsoft Surface: direct interaction (no mouse or keyboard), multi-touch (up to dozens of items at once), multi-user (collaborative) and object recognition (physical objects placed on Surface trigger different types of digital responses)

That’s one hell of a sticker price, but given the exclusive nature and advanced capabilities of the Surface itself, we’re confident that more than a few folks will see fit to pony up the cash. Anyone feel like sending a unit our way? K, thanks!

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8 comment(s) for this post.

  1. On Oct 27, 2008 @ 8:54 pm, Dennis Said:

    I had a chance to play with the Surface and I DO want one in my home! They are everything you could ever imagine plus a whole lot more. Oh, yeah!

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  2. On Oct 27, 2008 @ 11:50 pm, mangenius Said:

    I would love to have the Surface as a coffee table.. Imagine purchasing movies online through your XBOX 360 and the movies, with box art are stored on your surface. You can keep a virtual library…

    Same goes with music being able to peruse your library with album art relaying the info back to your 360 living room entertainment hub..

    The amount of different things you can do are countless - now someone make it happen and then lower the fucken price please

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  3. On Oct 28, 2008 @ 7:38 am, H.N.I.C. Said:

    @ mangenius: I 2nd that!

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  4. On Oct 28, 2008 @ 9:14 am, Jose Hebron Said:

    I think everyone is missing the best use of this device. I’m not a gamer, but…can you imagine having 2 people sitting across from each other moving players around before the snap of a football game. The guy on offense puts his wideout in motion…the guy on defense has his corner follow the wide receiver…the guy on offense move his QB from under center to the shotgun…the guy on defense moves his safeties back…all as the play clock is running down. Awesome!

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  5. On Oct 28, 2008 @ 9:19 am, Steve Said:

    This is a great technology. I had the pleasure (and horror) of trying one of these. The power is awesome, to say the least. The horror was when I put my digital camera down, it downloaded the pictures to the surface and displayed them. Sounds great, unless you have pictures of your girlfriend naked on your bed in lewd poses!!!

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  6. On Oct 28, 2008 @ 9:20 am, likeabite Said:

    I agree with everyone here! Jose that would be a dream come true and I’m pretty sure once I get my money up I’ll buy one of these. Imagine playing Madden or NBA 2K or Grand Tourismo…or even Street Fighter IV with your friend sitting across the table…I’m getting turned on just by thinking about it, lol.

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  7. On Oct 28, 2008 @ 9:06 pm, H.N.I.C. Said:

    Is this the same “Surface” that was used in IronMan?

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  8. On Oct 29, 2008 @ 9:32 am, likeabite Said:

    good observation HNIC

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