During his keynote Wednesday at the CEO Summit, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates shows off TouchWall, a 4-foot-by-6-foot touch-screen computer prototype.
(Credit: Microsoft)It's one step removed from the Midas approach, but Bill Gates wants to turn nearly everything we touch into a computer.
Speaking to a crowd of CEOs gathered in Redmond, Wash., Gates showed off prototype technology he said will allow home and office walls to become computers.
While Microsoft's Surface computers are currently shipping for about $10,000, Gates said the hardware costs for such products need not be that high. Within a few years, it could be in the hands of individuals.
"We're saying it will be absolutely pervasive," Gates said. "When I say everywhere, I mean the individual's office, the home, the living room."
What Gates showed on Wednesday was a 4-foot-by-6-foot prototype called TouchWall. Among the things that appealed to me was the idea that presentations might shift away from the sort of robotic slideshows enabled by PowerPoint.
Along with TouchWall, Gates showed off the software that accompanies it, known as Plex. TouchWall itself uses infrared and laser technology to sense touch input, Microsoft said.
In his speech, Gates also proved why TouchWall is still in the prototype stage.
"Whenever I go up and touch it, the software will notice it," Gates said, in kicking off the demo. When nothing happened, he added the qualifier "theoretically."
The screen did come to life a few minutes later.
Microsoft user experience designer Russ Burtner tests out TouchWall ahead of Chairman Bill Gates' Wednesday keynote at the CEO Summit. The touch screen, which is approximately 4 feet by 6 feet, is a research prototype.
(Credit: Microsoft)In his waning days as a full-time employee, Bill Gates is getting a little touchy-feely.
I'm not sure whether Gates is getting more emotional, but he is definitely big on the power of new user interfaces, especially touch-screen devices. On Wednesday, he is set to show off Microsoft's latest prototype, known as TouchWall.
The device to be shown Wednesday is something like a giant Surface unit turned on its side.
TouchWall is one of several multitouch prototypes Microsoft Research has created, in addition to the tabletop unit that Microsoft's Surface group has begun to sell commercially. Among the other devices the company is also reportedly working on is a sphere-shaped device.
Others also have multitouch walls. Multitouch pioneer Jeff Han has begun to sell one, while Hewlett-Packard showed one at last year's "D: All Things Digital" conference.
Han's unit was offered for $100,000 in Niemen Marcus' luxury holiday catalog last year, and CNN is using one in its election coverage.
Gates' demo comes as part of the company's CEO summit, an annual gathering of business leaders that runs through Thursday at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
A Microsoft representative declined to offer any details about whether or when TouchWall might be available commercially. The device is not being developed by the Surface unit, but rather is a collaboration between Microsoft Research and the company's newly formed Office Labs unit.
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