Last Thursday, I shared a concept video from Microsoft that showcased a number of under-development and beyond-gaming implementations of the company's Kinect stereo vision peripheral. Today, I'll pass along a bigger-picture visionary clip from Microsoft, which you can find above. Unlike John Gruber, I don't particularly think that vision videos are a waste of corporate time and money. Then again, I'm a firm believer that past television programs such as Star Trek and The Jetsons were highly influential in shaping the future technology and product directions of the budding engineers-to-be that watched them.
Similarly, a concept video from a leading technology company such as Microsoft not only focuses internal resources towards actualizing that vision, but also development teams at partner companies (not to mention competitors). And admittedly, I think "Future Visions" showcases an excessive reliance on touchscreens versus other user interface options, although I'm not nearly as snarky in my critique as is this former Apple UI inventor. To wit (and unsurprisingly so, given Microsoft's Kinect heritage), embedded vision does make several notable appearances; jump to 3:20, for example.
What do you think about the user and data interface concepts demonstrated in Microsoft's 'Productivity Future Vision"?
