Microsoft Surface Multi-Touch Computer In Australia Next Week
4 Feb 2010
Microsoft’s multi-touch computer may have already made its debut down-under at the Australian Open, but it will hit Australian retailers for the first time next week.
The Microsoft Surface allows people to interact on a 30-inch screen built into a table top. Users control the device though hand gestures instead of relying on a keyboard and mouse.
Sydney-based technology company and Microsoft partner nsquared solutions will be one of the first outlets selling the surface to the Australian market.
Tracey Fellows, managing director for Microsoft Australia and Robbie Bach, president of the entertainment division for Microsoft Surface will officially launch the device in Sydney on Tuesday.
While the Surface will support normal desktop functionality such as email and word processing, that type of activity defeats the purpose of the device.
"It's set up as a collaborative community multi-user experience. If you want single user experience you can go to a vertical screen and keyboard which is perfect for that," said nsquared performance coach, Kristen Kosmala.
"The app that we've designed is for lower Kindergarten to Year 12 students [around] literacy and numeracy type skills," she said.
"The table allows for collaboration, that's probably the biggest paradigm shift because it allows a group of people to interact and work together.”
ANZ sponsored the Australian Open and had two Surface units on display for tennis fans to play interactive computer games.
The Surface is also being used in the US by several hotels and restaurants for diners to book meals and find entertainment information.
Learn more about collaboration tools at the CeBIT Business Process Management Expo.
Find out more on hardware developments at the CeBIT Planet Reseller & IT Peripherals Exhibition.
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