Surface SDK Freely Available

The Surface SDK Workstation Edition is now generally available to any developer, continuing Microsoft’s efforts to expand the development community for its multitouch tabletop computer. Surface, which is built and distributed by Microsoft, consists of a table with a multitouch screen powered by Windows Vista; users interact with applications exclusively by touching the screen because the device has no other inputs. Initially, Microsoft limited Surface purchases and application development to a few customers and partners, but the company later added the product to volume price lists—prices start at US$12,500, plus mandatory fees for shipping and installation (which is done by partners)—and created a workstation-based SDK to spur development. In Nov. 2009, it released this SDK as a free download.

Also in Nov. 2009, Microsoft announced that Surface controls for developers would ship in the next version of the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), the principal user interface technology of the .NET Framework development platform. This will help Surface developers create touch-capable versions of their applications for Windows 7 and could draw more Windows developers to create applications for Surface.