Microsoft Surface - Coming 26 October!

The Surface is actually a very interesting product. They're copying the not-so-secret science of tablet interface design, but still keeping all the features that Windows-based TabletPCs have always been associated with. Stuff as simple as USB ports or even an OS with an identical environment to a desktop. It's an old idea and to many it's probably unnecessary, but as it stands, the iPad or any Android tablet does not fill that dreamy niche of being a dedicated art-station like the Surface appears to be.

The funny thing is that all TabletPCs needed was good multi-touch, which ultimately is a marriage of software and hardware design. It is the foundation of a tablet because the first interface one experiences is the simple index finger and a thumb. Nobody is thinking about, "Oh, I get to plug in something later" until you get past this point. You get one thing wrong with it and your device sucks. For example, even if you have smooth transitions, if your product is hard to carry, nobody's going to be fluid with it. Stuff like that just murdered TabletPCs, which gave Apple a predictably easy road to victory with the iPad and it's great multi-touch focus (Which, of course, was passed down from the iPhone.)

Now, finally, we're staring down a potentially good TabletPC for once. Even better, if Microsoft has any success with this thing, other manufacturers are going to push out even better realizations of the TabletPC. Wacom's most recent mega-survey has given indication that they are very interested in developing one, and considering they're the absolute kings of digitizers, they're probably going to create a dream-device for people like me. If the Surface has good stylus support and it isn't entirely software-based, I'll be shitting bricks all over the place.

I could go on forever about the importance of a dedicated stylus. Once a device gets over that basic multi-touch hurdle, having support for a stylus fills in all the gaps that the iPad and Android Tablets are currently screwed on in terms of art programs. For me, that's always been the one feature that seemed inseparable from the ideal tablet. I can't wait.

This all being said, not everyone is going to like TabletPCs, and as a result, I'm reluctant to say that the Surface can cause a migration. I would imagine that this device might find a pitfall in pricing because a lot of the features that I love about it are basically unnecessary for others. Hopefully it gets steam, because adoption of this product means nothing but crazy-good competition and innovation in a market where tablets aren't as cool as they should be.