Kinect for Windows - Building the Future
Since announcing a few weeks ago that the Kinect for Windows commercial program will launch in early 2012, we've been asked whether there will also be new Kinect hardware especially for Windows. The answer is yes; building on the existing Kinect …
Context & Ripple Effects
The arc here runs from the enthusiast fringe to the product roadmap. After the Kinect SDK was announced for a spring 2011 arrival, Microsoft spent the year watching an unofficial ecosystem form around the sensor — including hacks like gesture control of World of Warcraft on PC that showed demand well outside the living room.
First-order effects
- Developers get a sanctioned commercial channel: with the Kinect for Windows program confirmed for early 2012, businesses can license and ship Kinect-powered applications rather than operate in the SDK's non-commercial gray zone.
- A dedicated Windows hardware variant means PC integrators and ISVs can design against a sensor built for close-range desktop use instead of adapting console-tuned hardware.
Second-order effects
- The hack-driven community that proved the demand gets folded into a paid platform, shifting value from free DIY projects toward licensed commercial deployments on Windows machines.
- Rivals in depth sensing and natural user interfaces face a Microsoft-branded, Windows-integrated sensor entering business verticals — retail, healthcare, education — where they had been selling unbranded components.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, motion and voice sensors stop being console accessories and become a standard PC input category, with Microsoft positioning Windows as the default OS layer for natural-user-interface applications.
The trend: Motion-sensing hardware is migrating from gaming peripheral to general-purpose computing input, and Microsoft is building a licensed commercial platform to own that transition on Windows.