Microsoft Surface is Awesome – Can I Build an RIA for it?

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Microsoft SurfaceChannel 10 has the scoop on a brand new product from Microsoft called Surface. It’s basically an interactive table that has a touch screen which lets you interact with objects on the glass. Scoble has some good information and the videos on the Surface website are amazing (Popular Mechanics has some more video).

This is the kind of innovative user interface thinking I love, so Microsoft deserves huge props. I’ve heard rumors about something like this for a while but to actually see the demos is great. Supposedly the interfaces are all built with WPF. As an RIA developer, this would be such a great canvas to have. Forget trying to break out of the browser; with Surface you could create entirely new UI paradigms and really push the envelope (in a good way) about what it means to create interactive applications.

So Microsoft, will Surface run the Flash Player? :)

Update: Richard MacManus’ new blog, last100 has a good writeup. It looks like a great new property, so it’s worth subscribing to.
[tags]Microsoft, Surface, interface design[/tags]

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  • http://blogs.microsoft.com/msmossyblog Scott Barnes

    Oooh so now you want Microsoft to be nice guys/gals and run Flash on our cool stuff..

    Silverlight or bust :P

    (Honestly though, No idea at present as it’s all new, haven’t sat in on this briefing – yet!).

    Scott / Microsoft.

  • http://blog.xsive.co.nz Campbell

    “so now you want Microsoft to … run Flash on our cool stuff..” -

    Well microsoft did use Flash to make the demo website not silverlight :P

    I really want a coffee table with this, or even just the surface of my desk. I can imagine editing video with this would be awesome. Pretty much any activity which interacts with a surface could have a potential use for something like this. Then if you tied in some cool RFD tech, your away. Scott can you get us some more info please?

  • http://xsvdo.vox.com xsvdo

    The videos are really cool. I have simple and very basic blob detection working in AS3 (http://xsvdo.vox.com/library/post/blob-detection-working-in-flash.html), using the basic principles of FTIR. Check out http://nuigroup.com/forums/ for more information on the hardware needed. I think there is even a manual/howto guide.

    Anyway, I wanted to create a 100% pure AS3 solution (wanted an alternative to vvvv, processing and TUIO). I am thinking about starting a project on OSFLASH, get the creative juices of the Fl(ex)ash community going.

    My idea is to create a standard library that handles multi-touch gestures (events) to make it easier for developers to create games, productivity apps, etc.

  • http://www.hotweatherblog.com/ Michael Hanreck

    I have read about it. Do you think it will appear in mass production in next few years? I hope we’ll see it at least in 2020

  • David

    I don’t see why not Ryan, after all, the product page on the MS site is developed in Flash

    HA!

    Davo…

  • Wolke Schnee

    What’s the maximum resolution that Flash can handle?
    Not that’s a problem for Surface, but we don’t seem to be that far from 4000×4000 pixel displays…

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  • Robert

    Hey Ryan,

    I don’t think that microsoft came up with this idea. I saw a demonstration of this on a video on youtube that was being developed at a university. No props for innovation, but definitely a smart purchase!

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