14 DAY TRIAL // In case you’re wondering what the future will look like, Microsoft has got you covered. The Redmond-based technology giant has rolled out what it calls a new vision of the future created together with the Envisioning Center, trying to give us a glimpse at how technology could actually change the course of our lives.
The video below brings in the spotlight a more friendly way to interact with devices around us and, unsurprisingly, they’re all based on touchscreen devices.
It’s all making sense now, given the fact that Windows 8 is betting big on touchscreen capabilities, so Microsoft is most likely trying to bring touch-capable devices in our lives sooner rather than later.
Unsurprisingly, the core of the new touch-optimized ecosystem would be Windows devices, including tablets and mobile phones running Microsoft software. For example, a Windows tablet is being used to transfer data to a larger screen by simply connecting the two devices.
“While none of these ideas are meant to be predictive about our products, they do highlight some of the key trends we’re investing in, such as machine learning and NUI. They also give you a sense of where these technologies could lead us over the next five to ten years,” the team behind Next at Microsoft said.
Touchscreen devices are becoming essential for Microsoft’s long-term future and, even if the company is ready to spend quite a fortune to promote this new vision, it all comes down to costs the end user needs to cover.
At this point, touchscreen devices are still rather expensive, so bringing forward a large touch-capable panel such as the ones showcased in Microsoft’s video would be a fairly pricey investment.
“Over the course of the next few days you’ll learn more about some of the work we’re doing to improve our understanding of how people interact with technology and some of the breakthroughs we’ve made,” Microsoft said, hinting that more details on this vision should be provided in the coming days.
