Darren Waters get a demonstration of how Microsoft’s new touch screen works.As the South by Southwest 2009 conference moves its focus away from interactive and on to film and music after today, some juicy details of Microsoft’s follow-up to Surface have appeared.
First of all we won’t be seeing Surface 2 for at least two years as Microsoft still have it in the development phase and it currently carries the working name of “Second Light”. The updated surface will retain the multi-touch interface we are now getting used to, but introduce a second layer on which to display information.
This additional layer is made possible by adding a second projector to Second Light. Effectively this means that as well as interacting with objects on the screen you can also overlay additional information above it. We can therefore assume Second Light has two levels of interactive surface that work independently opening the way for more detailed information to be presented and managed on the screen.
A surprise addition, but one that will surely bring some interesting new ideas to Second Light, is the introduction of gestures. This will allow the user to make gestures with their hands above the device to carry out actions on screen.
I think it’s clear that Surface is a long-term project for Microsoft of technology that ultimately may end up becoming the new standard interface for interaction with a lot of gadgets. Right now it is very expensive, but so is all new technology that hits the market and this cost will eventually come down. I’d be surprised if Surface 2 wasn’t cheaper than Surface not only to develop but at retail regardless of the new features it introduces.
The information about Second Light given above may just be experiments Microsoft are carrying out in the lab and not final functionality. With at least two years before release you can expect the team to still be experimenting as they already have the core system in place from the original Surface. I think the gesture system is the most interesting addition as it should greatly increase the control you have over the information on the screen – multi-touch input can only take you so far.
For now Surface is too expensive for individuals to own and Surface 2 is just an R&D project inside Microsoft. What version of Surface do you think we’ll be up to before it’s as common and cheap as touchscreen technology is today?
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