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Microsoft kills off Kinect, stops manufacturing it
Microsoft is finally admitting Kinect is truly dead. After years of debate over whether Kinect is truly dead or not, the software giant has now stopped manufacturing the accessory. Fast Co Design reports that the depth camera and microphone accessory has sold around 35 million units since its debut in November, 2010. Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360 even became the fastest-selling consumer device back in 2011, winning recognition from Guinness World Records at the time.
In the years since its debut on Xbox 360, a community built up around Microsoft's Kinect. It was popular among hackers looking to create experiences that tracked body movement and sensed depth. Microsoft even tried to bring Kinect even more mainstream with the Xbox One, but the pricing and features failed to live up to expectations. Microsoft was then forced to unbundle Kinect from Xbox One, and produced an unsightly accessory to attach the Kinect to the Xbox One S. After early promise, Kinect picked up a bad name for itself.
Kinect technology lives on in products such as HoloLens, Windows Hello cameras, and "Mixed Reality" headsets.
(Score: 2) by chewbacon on Thursday October 26 2017, @02:12PM (1 child)
Too expensive for too narrow of a scope of use. Then there was the privacy issues when they tried to force it on XBO. The technology, however will still generate revenue. I read a study about using Kinect to call for help when an independently living elderly person falls (passive lifealert, without the “I’ve fallen and can’t get up!”).
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday October 27 2017, @12:03AM
"Too narrow a scope of use" from the perspective from somebody with no imagination and who has never actually played with one programmatically. Yeah, you might have to put some effort into paying the Microsoft tax to learn it and code for it, but the possibilities are endless.
Give me a kinect V2 and access to a code consultant and I will make fucking anything happen. Think Minority Report-style user interfaces and increase that by an order of magnitude.
Now everybody's ditching that style of research for AR and VR. Fuck them, they're fucking morons. There's a lot less profundity and user-control in AR/VR and I predict that gimmick will soon die a slow-death. With the Kinect V2 and some coding skill, you are in control. With AR/VR as it is headed, they control you.