The joy of waiting
May 31, 2007Warning: rant ahead.
I don’t give a rat’s ass what all the anti-MS idiots say. Surface is a truly innovative product, and I applaud Microsoft for it. They had the guts, back in 2001, to devote money and manpower to this idea, and now, 6 years later, it is paying off. Surface looks great, opens up a whole slew of possibilities, and, as far as I can see it, is truly a Pandora’s box of opportunities. I’ve seen use cases flash before my eyes like every other minute of the past two days.
Surface is just one of those things the OSS community will never come up with. Let’s face it; Linux, BSD, most of the other OSS projects, they are all followers. They are in it to regurgitate what companies like Apple and Microsoft serve them. The OSS community is supposed to be so great, right? Then why is it that they never seem to be able to come with something truly new, something groundbreaking, something that will make people all around the world go: “wow…!” I showed Surface to some of my computer-illetrate friends, and they were baffled. They all saw new use cases in front of them… Just like I did.
Fact remains, as much as I like the OSS world (I try to use the OSS equiv. when it is at least as good as or better than the closed-source counterparts), they are followers, not trendsetters. So, sure, there is enough to bash Microsoft and Apple about, but at least they have the guts to come up with truly new ideas.
In 2010, we’ll see a marginally different, poor rip-off of Surface. The joy of waiting.
um, yeah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPwaUp4gepU
Comment by mikesum32 — May 31, 2007 @ 11:11 pm
And I thought I was just looking at an oversized iPhone. Interface looked the same.
Comment by John S. — June 1, 2007 @ 1:18 am
“Surface is just one of those things the OSS community will never come up with.
Geez, what’ya smoke, I want from it too. Really. That doesn’t mean you’re not right, still, I feel it’s the stupidest argument of the day.
Apart from that, the first demonstrations of such multitouch user interfaces have not come from companies, but from academic circles. I had my “wow” moment when I first saw a multi touch device demoed a while back, so forgive me if I won’t fall onto my knees if now a company also shows it can do such a thing.
That said, I don’t mind - far from it - that companies pick up the idea and promise to create low priced versions in a few years, because I too felt a great deal of useful application possibilities for such and similar user interfaces and devices. Microsoft or else, it’s good they will come to the market for all of us to enjoy.
Comment by l3v1 — June 1, 2007 @ 12:15 pm
maybe you missed the point that you need money for research and pr. and that’s exactly what you need for such “wow effects”: research and pr.
imho, you can’t compare OSS to commercial software, because the latter is to be sold, whereas the former is to be used. trying to push a community to do anything better by rants will not be successful, just because they don’t give a damn about little persons like you and their minor interests as long as it works for them.
Comment by Daniel G. — June 2, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
Meh. Everyone borrows from everyone else, and everyone is behind someone else in one way or another.
That said, this *is* the sort of thing I’d expect to come out of a big company like Microsoft or Apple as they are not soley focussed on software, and have the resources to reach into other areas.
FWIW, I do think Surface is pretty cool, but its really the sort of thing you’d see in the background of any of the crap sci-fi you see these days and not give a second thought.
Someone (in this case Microsoft) has finally just commited the resources to implement it in what will soon be a useful product.
Comment by Trent J. Townsend — June 3, 2007 @ 3:57 am