When Eric Havir. Sr. Manager, Digital Communications at Microsoft/Surface stated that “Microsoft Surface and education are like peanut butter and jelly” he was right on the spot. Havir offered the two videos embedded at the bottom of this article showing Microsoft Surface, the Redmond company's first commercial example of surface computing, in a classroom in the U.K. The kids' reactions to the tabletop computer are a clear indication of why the Natural User Interface is the future over what are now traditional input models such as the keyboard and the mouse. And it will not stop with Surface for Microsoft. It will continue with Windows 7 and with additional products, as the Redmond company will move onward with its vision to turn every surface into a computer.

“Microsoft Surface is like that with a number of markets, but there's something about kids interacting with a computer in a very accessible way that seems right. Microsoft worked with Infusion and RM (who also worked with Lightbox Education) to create applications for schools. The video below is a video case study of what happened when they dropped it off for a day with teachers and students. You'll also see some of the Microsoft applications (puzzles) and VectorForm (Surface DJ) featured in the video,” Havir noted.

Of course, the transition from mouse and keyboard to touch, gesture and object recognition will not happen overnight. At the same time, existing input models will undoubtedly adapt to the Natural User Interface evolution, and neither the mouse, nor the keyboard are in danger of being wiped out anytime soon. But with the new interaction model users will be able to leverage “natural” touch, and multi touch, gestures and the computers' ability to identify and respond to objects.

In my own experience I found that the mouse and the keyboard manage to limit consistently the interaction level of a first-time user with a computer. The videos show students using Surface like they have had the tabletop computer all their lives, and not just recently introduced in the classroom.