Feb 28, 2011 10:37 GMT  ·  By

Have you ever wondered how a next generation user interface from Microsoft looks like while still in development? Well, this is your chance to get a sneak peek at what the future might have in store for users of the Redmond company’s products. During this year’s TechForum annual event, Craig Mundie, Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer demonstrated a UI prototype which was never showcased outside of Microsoft Research or the Applied Sciences group.

The demo is featured in the video embedded below, courtesy of TechFlash’s Todd Bishop.

Mundie has already revealed that as far as Microsoft is concerned the future will bring with it a combination of NUI and GUI.

In this regard, the demo is a perfect example of how natural user interfaces and graphical user interfaces can work in concert to usher in a new era of human – computer interaction.

Let me just say this right off the bat, I simply love the idea of tilting a mobile device in order to control it.

Many devices today, from smartphones to Tablet PCs / slates cannot fit all the content relevant to the user on a single screen. Customers are often required to swap the screen in order to switch between various focus points across the UI.

Android and Windows Phone 7 owners undoubtedly know what I’m talking about, since their devices provide a lot of content which can be accessed by navigating away from the main screen.

Making better use of the tilt sensors or accelerometers that come built in such devices is an excellent idea.

I don’t know whether Microsoft is exploring such an UI approach for Windows 8, but they definitely should.

Obviously, the next-gen tilt UI concept would tailor itself better to Windows 8 on slates than on desktop PCs, laptops, etc. Also, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to explore the possibility of allowing the Windows Phone 8 UI to evolve in this direction.

The prototype is certainly interesting enough, albeit still cooking, and evidently in need of fine-tuning. What do you think?