14 DAY TRIAL // November 4, 2011 marks the one-year anniversary of Kinect for Xbox 360, and as a part of the celebration, Microsoft is kicking Kinect for Windows up a notch.
Craig Eisler, general manager, Kinect for Windows, reveals that the Redmond company is gearing up to release the second Beta development milestone for the Kinect for Windows software development kit.
In fact, according to Eisler, Kinect for Windows SDK Beta 2 will be available later today, November 4.
“The updated software development kit that we released today includes some great new features (…), including faster skeletal tracking, better accuracy rate when it comes to skeletal tracking and joint recognition, and the ability to plug and unplug your Kinect without losing work/productivity,” he said.
With the release of Kinect for Windows SDK Beta 2, the software giant is also transitioning the software development kit from Microsoft Research to its new home, an official Kinect for Windows website kinectforwindows.org.
At the time of this article, neither the new website nor the Beta 2 Build of Kinect for Windows SDK had launched. Still, this is bound to be nothing more than a matter of hours.
“It all started with a revolutionary sensor and amazing software that turned voice and movement into magic. With that magical combination, last year the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft showed the world how to re-imagine gaming” reads an excerpt from an email that Eisler sent to his team this week.
“This year, we’re showing the world how to re-imagine entertainment. Next year, with Kinect for Windows, we will help the world re-imagine everything else.”
Microsoft is also getting ready to launch the Kinect for Windows commercial program, which will go live in early 2012.
The Redmond giant already revealed that some 200 companies have been part of a pilot for the Kinect for Windows commercial program.
“We’ve already seen strong enthusiasm for Kinect among developers who have done amazing things with it in countless different ways, from education to healthcare, gaming to art installations, manufacturing to retail,” Eisler added.
“(…)Putting the power of Kinect + Windows into the hands of business leaders and technical visionaries will give them the tools they need to develop novel solutions for everything from training employees to visualizing data, from configuring a car to managing an assembly line.”
Kinect for Windows SDK Beta 1 shipped in the summer of 2011, with Microsoft releasing a Refresh in August.
UPDATE: Kinect for Windows SDK Beta 2 is available for download here.