Microsoft;s healthcare leaders currently are pondering about how the recently announced Surface 2,
Microsoft Office 2007 Key, Xbox,
Windows 7 Activation, Xbox Reside and also the Kinect sensors may be included into healthcare applications.(It;s been a whilst because I;ve blogged about Microsoft;s Well being Options Group. That unit, below Corporate Vice President Peter Neupert,
Office 2010 Key, is the one overseeing HealthVault and Amalga, among other items.)Bill Crounse, Senior Director of Worldwide Well being for Microsoft blogged about the Surface two on January 6. He mentioned he has become operating together with the Surface group for your previous few months to develop a “vision setting video” on scenarios for that Surface 2.0 in the healthcare space.Crounse said he could envision clinicians collaborating with patients on wall-mounted versions of the $7,600 Surface two.0 tables. Physicians also could use these devices to share more easily patient information, such as the results of a fetal ultrasound. (In other words, the Surface two.0 could act as a 40-inch, multitouch display.)Crounse said he also sees possible healthcare applications for a variety of consumer-focused Microsoft technologies down the road. Again, from his post:“I also predict down the line that we’ll be seeing some ‘mashups; combining Surface with attributes of Kinect, Xbox, Xbox Live,
Windows 7 Enterprise Key, Avatars, and possibly Microsoft Lync or Windows Live. I’ve always maintained that the digital, flat-sceen Internet connected device in our living rooms (our television) would one day become the gateway to all kinds of new services and entertainment.”Hmmm. I;m not so sure about animated Kinect avatars in healthcare… Seems a little too much like Clippy revisited to me. I can see Lync;s audio/video conferencing playing a role, however….What;s your take? Any other vertical markets you see adopting Surface 2.0,
Office 2007 Ultimate Key, Xbox and/or Kinect sooner rather than later?Update: My ZDNet colleague Manan Kakkar found an interesting Microsoft patent application earlier this year that shows Microsoft;s been contemplating about potential links between wellness and gaming. (His post makes me wonder whether social gaming will figure in Microsoft;s future healthcare plans, at the same time.)