22 Jan The end may be nigh for keyboard, mouse and monitor, thanks to Microsoft
Yesterday, Microsoft was still a sad sack desperately trying to make up for missing out on the mobile hoopla. Today, the formerly boring office tech supplier got its innovation mojo back in one of the most exciting ways possible.
The change is enough to induce whiplash. Just the same, at its Windows 10 press briefing in Redmond, Wash., Wednesday, the company unleashed a bevy of announcements and demos—the most noteworthy of which revolved around Cortana voice features, gestures and something it calls “Windows Holographic,” a sort of souped-up augmented reality platform. Microsoft’s take puts more realistic 3D images in front of eyeballs along with text, layering them over our view of the real world as seen through its new HoloLens goggles.
Voice, gestures and wearable face gear are nothing new to the tech scene, but Microsoft’s bold play here certainly is. It’s as if the company, vowing never to miss out on another emerging trend again, flipped a switch to shake up human-to-computer interfaces. When people can talk to their tech, see 3D representations in the air and interact with media or docs by waving their hands, the long-term survival for the keyboard, mouse and monitor suddenly seems precarious.
Microsoft is far from alone in trying to usher in the new golden age of interfaces that Hollywood has been promising for years. Oddly enough, it might even have the best chance of succeeding.