14 DAY TRIAL // Do you think that Windows Aero is the best that technology has to offer? Or are you a fan of the Mac OS X Tiger's Aqua? Well, get ready, because user interfaces will change beyond recognition. While your mouse and keyboard will still be around for quite some time, the fact of the matter is that both technologies have reached their limits and are beginning to become obsolete. However, user interaction and user interfaces are evolving, and the direction clearly points to a more hands-on approach.
This is the case over at Microsoft. The Redmond Company's research laboratories have been focusing, among many other projects, also on interaction. In this regard, "Touchlight" and "Play Anywhere" are just such examples of technologies that will enable users to evolve they way they interact. According to Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft is getting ready to unveil the result of its assiduous work in the field. The Redmond Company's PlayTable technology is expected to be finalized and brought to the public in the coming weeks.
Microsoft has failed to confirm this at the present time or to deliver an official date as to when the PlayTable technology will be made available. Essentially, PlayTable - this of course is a code-name - along with project Milan, is a technology designed to translate gestures into inputs via a computing platform.
What this means of course, is that users will no longer need a keyboard or a mouse to interact with the computer. They will be able to use their hands instead. Still, the technology is so much more than a touch screen. It will permit multi-touch commands, and gestural inputs and object-recognition across specially crafted surfaces or on no surfaces whatsoever. Hand movements for example will be detected and the interactive gesture translated into commands.