w********1 发帖数: 3492 | 1 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 13:07:44 PDT
Microsoft today announced that it intends to acquire Perceptive Pixel, a
company founded by multi-touch pioneer Jeff Han and currently focused on
large-screen touch displays such as those used by CNN and other television
networks to allow anchors to present live, interactive data on set.
We've featured Han's work a number of times over the years both before and
after the launch of the iPhone as examples of what could be done with the
technology.
While Han was not involved in Apple's multi-touch efforts, which were based
in significant part on the efforts of FingerWorks, his work has been looked
to as some of the key early examples of the potential for multi-touch input
technology in action.
Founded in 2006 by Jeff Han, a renowned pioneer in multi-touch technology,
PPI shipped its first multi-touch workstation and large wall solutions in
early 2007. In 2008 its technology gained widespread recognition for
transforming the way CNN and other broadcasters covered the 2008 U.S.
presidential election. In 2009 the Smithsonian awarded the company the
National Design Award in the inaugural category of Interaction Design. PPI’
s patented technologies are used across a wide variety of industries such as
government, defense, broadcast, energy exploration, engineering and higher
education, and its expertise in both software and hardware will contribute
to success in broad scenarios such as collaboration, meetings and
presentations.
Microsoft is no stranger to the market either, having launched its "Surface"
tabletop multi-touch screens back in mid-2007. While that effort did not
lead to significant success, Microsoft just last month relaunched the
Surface brand for its forthcoming portable tablet devices running Windows 8.
The addition of Perceptive Pixel will strengthen Microsoft's patent holdings
in the area of multi-touch input, as well as provide the larger company
with expertise that will help it to develop new tools for collaborative work
with its multi-platform Windows 8. Microsoft is planning for a general
release of Windows 8 by the end of October, with pricing and availability on
its Surface tablet hardware yet to be announced. | c********n 发帖数: 4762 | 2 没apple啥事, 反正和ms cross licensing. |
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