Microsoft (MSFT) introduced its new table-sized touch-screen PC. The new unit will be put into hotels and casinos for the time being. It can be used to buy tickets and play games. It runs the Vista OS, and it is cool. It is called Surface.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the product has been something of a dream for Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The newspaper quotes him as saying: "I’ve been saying the last few years that the thing people are underestimating the most is how ‘natural interface’ will change computing."
His view is probably wrong. While a "natural interface" may have been natural a number of years ago when the PC was still in its early stages, using a PC is now as normal as driving a car or cooking a meal, especially for people under 50.
Apple sold 1.5 million Macs in the last quarter. It has about 4% of the global market. Depending on whether IDC or Gartner is doing the measuring, worldwide PC sales could be well over 150 million units this year. Vista has sold 40 million copies so far since it was introduced. So, looking at the data, it would not be hard to imagine that there are 500 million working PCs around the world.
Intuitive computing for the average PC user is still a long way off. And, most people with a PC don’t need it, and probably don’t want it.
They already know how to us a PC very well, thanks. They don’t need any extra help.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected] He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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