The Surface table wasn't big enough. Microsoft envisions your walls as computers. Actually Bill Gates said at the CEO Summit in Redmond today that he thinks all flat surfaces "will eventually have an inexpensive screen display capability and software that sees what you are doing there."

Again, very cool! But not original. A year ago a fun video that showcased Ziba's TouchWall made the rounds on YouTube (equally cool ). Prior to that, in 2006, Jeff Han, a research scientist at NYU's Courant Institute was making the rounds showing off the latest developments in multi-point touch technology, and no doubt there are other examples as well.

Microsoft says it has no immediate plans to create a shipping product from the interactive whiteboard Gates showed off, though it's easy to see that the possibility exists. While Microsoft can't claim that it invented the concept, it would be fascinating to see if Microsoft could be the company that makes a winning commercial success out of it. The problem it might face is that technology is changing faster than Microsoft. Microsoft is still acting in a Windows/client-oriented world, the goal of which is to create applications for a proprietary operating system. Software is quickly becoming an open, meshed, cloud concept where the applications live anywhere BUT the client. So giant, computerized walls using Windows may not be where its at by the time Microsoft could get its interactive whiteboard marketable. Time will tell. In the meantime, hope you enjoy watching the wall.

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