The Birth of the “Big Ass Table”

It started almost six months ago, on a lazy summer afternoon. I was bored and browsing YouTube when I came across the official trailer for “Microsoft Surface”. For some reason, as I was watching it I just starting making up new words for it.

Within a few hours, the damage was done, and Microsoft Surface got it’s new moniker, “The Big Ass Table.”The latter video went viral almost immediately, and before long, it went to number one on YouTube. Engadget, Gizmodo, CNN, and many others, kept the view counter rising. It was about this time, that I noticed in our traffic logs, that a disproportionate number of our visitors were coming out of Bellevue and Redmond, Washington, near Seattle.It just so happens that the Microsoft Surface team is also located in that same area. I must admit I was a little worried about what these people would think about the video, and what sort of high-end payback I ought to expect. But nothing happened. No “Cease and Desist” order was ever delivered. (A lucky break since I failed both Ceasing and Desisting in high school)Read the rest of our adventure after the jump. About two months ago, instead of a C&D, I got an email from the PR firm that serves Microsoft Surface. Rather than telling us which anatomical cavity we could shove our video into, the email was an invitation to come to Washington and experience Surface Computing for ourselves. So a few weeks ago, Lono and I headed for the Pacific Northwest to see this new machine up close and personal.“Everyone’s really excited you guys are here,” said Kyle, our main host from Microsoft. “Would you guys mind coming to our staff meeting later on?”We agreed, but I couldn’t help thinking that with all of the work they have to do to get this machine into commercial locations this spring, I am SO sure that they want their staff meeting extended by 3-5 minutes so that we could get up and wave.”“Can we touch it?”

Walking into the stylish demo room at Surface, the first thing that jumps out at you, is that nothing jumps out at you. Surface doesn’t try to attract your eye with flashing lights or fancy decals. It doesn’t call out to you like a slot machine. It just sits there waiting for someone to notice that it’s one of the most interesting new concepts that computing has seen in years. It just looks like a coffee table. Black base. Glass Top.

Lono and I were both trying to NOT be too geeky about being on the small list of folks who’ve actually had the chance to experience Microsoft Surface in person. While we managed to maintain composure, I had a brief urge to try to get between Lono and the machine so that I could be the first to touch it. Lono seemed to be thinking the same thing, as he moved quickly to close the little space between the chair and Surface. Without breaking eye contact with Kyle, he bent his knees enough to cop a quick feel of the glass top. He shot me a victorious glance, pulling his hand back, like a kid caught playing with matches. Point Lono.

“You can touch it if you want to, you don’t have to sneak. That’s why you’re here,” Kyle said to Lono. Point Kyle.

Without going into all of the stuff you’ve already seen, suffice it to say that we thoroughly enjoyed messing with the Big Ass Table. We’re preparing a companion video to our trip that you’ll see here on SarcasticGamer.com in a week or two, plus another interesting surprise. Our first world-exclusive scoop.

“Sure, you could use it for that.”

Before long, Lono and I were shouting ideas to the Surface folks. “This would be great for RTS games! Schools should have these!”

The patient MS team nodded knowingly. This must happen to them a lot.

Actually, I think that might have been my favorite part of our trip to see Surface. As much as I enjoyed playing with Surface’s current catalog of demonstration applications, it paled in comparison to the excitement of seeing computers finally heading in a new direction. I couldn’t stop imagining new applications for this multi-touch collaborative interface. We’ve been sort of shackled to our computers by mice and keyboards for decades now. What I am trying to say is that it was refreshing to look at computing form a whole new angle.

No Manual Necessary

The traditional rules of computer interaction go out the window with Surface, but that doesn’t mean it’s intimidating or difficult. As a matter of fact, after about an hour of screwing with the machine, I had some internal dialog that went something like this.

“I’ve been using a computer for more than an hour, without a keyboard or a mouse. I was also able to sit down and use the machine, with virtually zero instruction and make it do my bidding. It’s all common sense. I am thirsty. Good thing Microsoft has a fully stocked convenience store every 100 feet in their offices with free drinks. I need to lose some weight, I’ll get a Diet Coke.”

Want to enlarge a picture? Just grab it’s corners and pull. Want to paint a picture? Grab a common paint brush or dip your fingers into a virtual color and get after it. Own a Zune? If by some miracle you do and you want to put music on it, just plop it down on the table, and drag your music into it.

That’s Surface in a nutshell. One of the least intimidating technology experiences since the solar powered calculator, with innovation that leaves you suspicious as to how many NASA engineers they have locked in their basement. (They never let us into the basement, so there’s no way to confirm this.)

The whole thing works with these infrared cameras and lights, although I am certain there is an abundance of magic involved. At one point we had four of us sitting around the Big Ass Table with our hands in the paint, and the device recognized each and every touch we made (That’s about 30-40 fingers on it at once). Imagine you and a few friends trying to do that with mice on a traditional computer. Chaos right? Not so with Surface. The infrared cameras look for interruptions in the IR field and know what each type of interruption means.

Making a Splash

The screen resolution on Surface came as a bit of a shock to me. Good old 1024 x 768. Shocking because I couldn’t really tell. I thought it was much higher than that. For one thing the water table, an equivalent to having a Zen garden on your coffee table, looks so real that it sort of pulls a fast one on your brain. You know you’re not going to get wet by touching it, but its still a bit of a surprise when finger meets acrylic, sending ripples in every direction. Very real looking.

While we’ve had our share of fun at Microsoft’s expense with the Big Ass Table video, this was a different kind of fun. Everyone we ran into seemed to be genuinely excited about what they were doing. From the front desk to the front office, we didn’t see a frown from anyone, except when Lono spilled his soda on the carpet in the demo room. (Ironically it would have been better had he spilled on the Surface machine, since it’s built to withstand that.)

We ended our day by dropping by the Surface Team’s Big Ass staff meeting. We were introduced to them, and I had one of those flashbacks to Mrs. Riddle’s class where I had to stand up and recite my multiplication tables (7’s still stump me sometimes.) But when we turned to face what we imagined might be a lukewarm reception, what we got was nothing sort of a “Rudy” moment. We said “Hi,” thanked them for having us, and were presented with some souvenir champagne glasses from the Surface launch. I think I speak for Lono when I say we didn’t want to leave.Sadly, Microsoft has no openings on the Surface campus for clueless gamers who make occasionally entertaining videos. But I’m keeping an eye on their job board… just in case.

We had a blast in Washington, and our sincere gratitude goes out to the entire Surface team, as well as the folks from Zune and Xbox that let us eat in that incredibly advanced lunchroom.

More news and coverage from Surface coming soon, including an exclusive application video, never seen before outside of MS.

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