ideas worth stealingIssues on the surface of Surface
Microsoft Surface has been unveiled, and while it’s quite eye-catching and innovative on the surface, it also is going to require some serious thought in a few areas:
- Security: How do you protect files that pop open magically by placing a device on the tabletop? Those photos you didn’t want to show your boss, for example?
- Fingerprints: I know, I know. This is a problem with all touch screens, but there’s not exactly a good spot to storea cloth so you can clean the thing.
- Spills and other messes: Used in a restaurant, you’ll see rings from perspiring glasses, spills from food and drinks, trash (straw wrappers and the like), and all sorts of other messes. People put things on tables. It’s a fact. And unless the touch-screen is only a small part of a much larger table, you can expect your Veal Parmagiana to interfere with sharing photos.
- Aesthetics: How many household rooms are designed in such a way that one of these babies will automatically fit in with the decor? I hope it comes in different colors, and I hope someone launches a line of accessories for stylizing the machine.
- Value: This tabletop isn’t designed for getting real work done (can you imagine sitting there for a long period of time to work on a design or write some code?), so at most, Surface will be used primarily for quick meetings in offices, sharing photos and such with friends at home, and other less-than-essential things. It has marginal value for the buck (this thing has got to be expensive).
- Scratches: Alongside the inevitable cleaning nightmare, these tabletops are surely to get scratched up, and that will surely make for a less attractive tabletop, prominently displayed in the center of your living room. It’ll make good and bad first impressions, simultaneously.
I’m sure there are more, but these are the issues off the top of my head. You know, the surface.
That said, I think the technology has a lot of potential. Providing MS comes up with solutions to these and other potental problems, they could be on to something really great. Imagine designing applications that work on this machine. That’s fun for the whole family!
On the surface, Surface is a glorified kiosk. But I’m sure this is just the start of what Microsoft has in mind. Once they dig a little deeper, I’m sure Surface will have many uses we have yet imagine. Microsoft has just barely scratched the surface.
Posted by Robert on May 30th, 2007
6 comments
Can’t help but feel this particular surface has been getting scratched for a while though. The demo reminded me instantly of the video file (from 2005!) that is referred to here. Throw in some of the interaction models they demonstrate, and it starts to look like a big ol’ iPhone.
“Providing MS comes up with solutions to these and other potental problems, they could be on to something really great. ”
Microsoft should not get too involved with solving problems that may or may not exist in actual use.
Better to let users work out their own behavior, and then see what remains that cannot be handled through common sense or reasonable precaution.
Among my UI pet peeves is when a vendor makes me jump through hoops to do something because of some preconceived, but empirically unfounded, idea about what’s good for me.
James:
Interesting point, but I’m not sure I understand how it applies here. I agree that it would be awful for MS to make you do anything special to maintain the machine on a daily basis. But the issues I’ve pointed out are inevitable considering how MS intends for the machine to be used.
Fingerprints will be a natural result of using a touch-screen, scratches will occur as a result of setting devices on the screen (as shown in the marketing videos on the site), rings will show up after setting drinks on the screen (also shown in the vidoes), and so on.
MS designed the machine so that people will do these things - in fact, it even reacts with a little animation when you set a drink down. In other words, these aren’t just potential issues, they’re inevitable by design.
Ideally, MS wouldn’t make you jump through any hoops to address these things. The design of the machine should prevent most of these things from ever being an issue in the first place. A scratch-resistant screen, for example, wouldn’t require any additional effort on your part, and would (at least partly) address the scratching issue.
Did you have context-specific issues in mind?
Yes, valid concerns but none of them are anywhere close to show-stoppers except for security. Scratches? Sure, they’ll happen but as many touch screens out there now a lot of people are already in the know regarding screen covers, etc. The same goes for spills. It will take more care and prevention than a regular table but overall…still a minor concern.
I’m HIGHLY sure they won’t just sync a phone with a table without a request. Those phones, surely, had to have a connection established (just like PC to PDA sync).
Keep in mind these are not for consumers right now. Businesses will have them this year (food spots, etc) and, from what I’ve heard, consumers in 3 years. Due to the costs involved in making the table it merely isn’t feasible for consumers.
Oh, one more thing: these tables may be used for some work but none of the videos showcase it for work. These tables are for expressive, fun, interactive experiences in locations where normal tables once were (IMO).
As said on the FMUG list, I don’t see how anyone can hate on this table. It is sweet and the possibilities open up a full realm of applications for life in general.
Mychal:
Do you really think iPhone is original in any way? For a phone, ok…you can have that but LG and HTC already have similar phones. All of the cool features you see have been out for a few years as well. Not too much going on right now is amazingly new…the big thing here is the fact that it is all integrated into a table (just like iPhone taking everything else they’ve seen and implementing it on a phone). IMO! ;-)
@John: Oh no. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the iPhone is original, what struck me is the similarity of the presented methods for interaction - particularly with photo scaling and whirling. I would say that originality or, if you prefer, innovation is on Microsoft’s mind. They attempt to document a history for the device. Regardless of that history, I still have deja vu not so much for the iphone but for all those cool interaction videos that started to crop up on youtube a couple of years ago.
Sorry so late on the response Mychal. I def’ understand what you mean there and would agree. None of this multitouch stuff (iPhone or Surface) is original and specifically based on my knowledge of the youtube videos. :-D