Here is the finished Product. Any tweaks or complaints by 11pm please! I will also add a blurb at the end about our forum.
1. Microsoft’s surface could be usefully applied to a menagerie of areas of study. In any medical discipline, it would allow for the realistic training without have to ever touch a patient. In art and graphic design it would allow for the most interactive canvas any artist could ask for. In web design it would allow students to work more efficiently on pages and projects than ever before. Students of drafting and technical design would have a medium that would be more interactive and pliable than any technology available until now. Hospitality would be revolutionized in the real world and in the classroom, allowing this interactive software to streamline the dining experience.
2. Imagine going to a restaurant, and never having to speak to your waiter. Less confusion and fewer botched orders when you input your desired choices directly into the Surface interface. The surface screens available in the kitchen display to the cooks what you’ve ordered, and anything specific you’ve requested about your meal. Perhaps even the recipe is displayed. In an academic capacity, if the hospitality center at your university employed this technology, you would not only be prepared for when you graduate, it would help the learning process as well.
Surface as a digital canvas would make the stylus pad look like stone-age technology. Its super sensitive interface could employ the most realistic interaction with the gestures and movements the artist makes. You could actually change the color, saturation, and medium while you were moving the brush across your canvas. You could manipulate multiple layers at once, or even create new and bizarre effects by warping or crumpling your canvas. A student studying to be an architect or mechanical engineer would be able to use design programs in an environment more conducive to 3D imaging, and be able to affect more than one area of their design. Surface would also allow you web design students to work collaboratively on a page at the same time. Sharing and swapping pages on the table would save time and money in the classroom and in the real world. As a student of medicine, you could be trained on a virtual patient rather than a cadaver. Surgeries could be simulated digitally with the multiple input interface Surface provides. This would be invaluable in the classroom, and better prepare medical students for real world practice.
3. Actually applying any of these fantastic ideas for Surface would be no easy task. Significant interaction between those in the field, those in the university and developers would be key to designing applications and software to run Surface; not to mention the physical platforms themselves. Then getting existing software to interface with Surface would a task on its own. Dreamweaver for Surface, AutoCAD for Surface or Adobe Photoshop for surface. Would these companies be willing to work with Microsoft to accomplish revolutionary applications for the greater good?
4. In considering the "five-component framework", Microsoft can generally be assumed to have Hardware and Software concerns under control. It is therefore necessary for them to focus on Procedures, Data, and People. The idea we came up with here is that procedures must be implemented using the hardware and software already at Microsoft's disposal to collect data and ultimately, people. This would be done via the procedure of creating and entering in a registry data on interested parties, who are they? What kinds of Applications are they looking for? This procedure would need to cast a wide net, as it's not only looking for specific demands and potential customers, but also for developers who're eager to create applications for Surface. Using the Data gathered through this registration Procedure, Microsoft could develop facilities and procedures for bringing developers together to brainstorm and work on new Surface applications, as well as bringing developers and potential customers together for a demo of the product. The selective selling procedure does need to be very closely examined, and perhaps discontinued, or at the very least, temporarily suspended from use on a case-by-case basis by authorized members of management.
5. As a consulting firm, the opportunity that we believe exists for us is to act as a liaison between Microsoft and developers interested in Surface. We believe that the registry we described in Question 4 (assuming it's our firm using it, rather than Microsoft directly in this case) would be vital to our success. Not only would we be looking at application-specific customer desires to help steer developers and designers who came to us in the right direction (by connecting them with clients and letting them know the clients' demands), but we could also maintain contacts with qualified professionals who specialize in support for basic Surface hardware and software, who we could recommend our clients work with if need be. We would also be leveraging social media to get the word out about our services and help us do our networking with tech professionals. Concerning social media, it may be a good idea for our firm to commission our own applications to access and promote our social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
6. As a consulting firm propagating finished and complete Surface applications, perhaps we can find other institutions, businesses and other entities that can use the same software interchangeably to maximize profits for that particular Surface project. We could help developers market Surface in networking them with businesses and institutions that could use Microsoft Surface. We would bring ideas, recommendations, and projections to potential clients.
7. "Emerging technology is constantly leveling the playing field." That statement does play a role in our world today, big companies care about the dollar therefore, if a company can outsource or hire many people across an area to help support, promote and sell their products then they will do so. This somewhat eliminated the competitive edge. However, our response in question 5 states that if we played it out right and had the right niche we can excel and beat out competitors. Working with experts in hardware and the software areas of Surface. Also have our referral program to keep clients coming through to us, and last but not least social media integration to Facebook and Twitter. If we excel in those areas we will lead the pack.
