Microsoft Surface is an exclusive club

ChannelWebNetwork posts an article about Microsoft’s Surface computing initiative–well, more precisely, about Microsoft Surface.

There’s no broad Surface initiative from what I see. In fact, as the article points out, the Surface SDK is only for the eyes of its current Surface partners. There’s no mention if there’s ever going to be a plan to release the SDK to the general developer community. So if you’ve been thinking about how these touch technologies have broader value, it’s better to hold that thought.

Too bad. I think there’s an opportunity here to broaden the innovation circle. Touch has many applications. Not just for the Surface computer as it stands–or sits–now.

We have to look no further than Apple, with its iPhone and now MacBook Air to see how popular the capability can be. In fact, CES was full of touch and multi-touch surfaces large and small, vertical and horizontal. Dell even has been demoing some multi-touch technologies. It makes sense to me to view multi-touch in a much broader way.