Slashdot Mirror
Kinect For PCs Early Next Year, Microsoft Eyeing Business Apps
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has announced that its Kinect motion-control system will be available for PCs in early 2012, and that they're planning to take it into the business world as well. 'Microsoft plans to launch a commercial program for the peripheral early next year, giving businesses the tools to develop customized applications for their companies and industries. The pilot program already includes such familiar names as Toyota, book publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and design firm Razorfish. All totaled, over 200 "marquis brand" companies in 25 countries have signed up for the program... And while the majority of those companies have opted to keep their names hidden for now for competitive reasons, Microsoft is working with them to get the applications up and running, so they can debut as soon as possible. Just don't expect the Redmond-based company to do any first party apps for this program.'"
And now you have to wave your arms like Neo in the Matrix in order to alt-tab between apps...
"For years computers had been operated by means of pressing buttons and scrolling wheels; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive – you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but it meant you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep using the same program."
I like how an entire market for advanced motion control has sprung up around what was originally a homebrew reverse engineering effort. That said, the tech inside the kinect is amazing and the ability to get it all in to a sub100 dollar mass market device is impressive.