Surface Surfaces!

Well, it's here. I've come across my first Microsoft Surface in actual commercial use. I'm staying at the Sheraton Boston near the Prudential Center, and there in the lobby was a shiny new Surface. I must say, I was pretty impressed. It was placed in the lobby just to the right of the reception desk. It had four Ottoman-style chairs around it, so that someone from either side could operate it. In short, it was like an automated concierge. In long, here's the critique:

PROS

• The interface is as easy to operate as the demos at the trade shows. Moving, arranging, stretching, and zooming were very simple and responsive.
• Depending on which side of the table you were on, you could choose to orient the display to face one way or the other.
• They had set up a nice little area for it right outside the Starbucks, so it was placed in a convenient, inviting area.
• With the screen saver on, everyone passing by probably just thought it was a horizontal piece of art, so getting some time on it was no problem. I really don't think anyone else knew what the heck it was.
• Looking at an interactive map on a display that large is quite useful. It sort of points out the shortcomings of a teeny display like the iPhone or even worse, a BlackBerry.

CONS

• The functionality of this Surface was not quite what they showed in their feature video.
• It had a limited number of pre-programmed attactions, restaurants, bars, etc. to show. I would have preferred a fully searchable device that had thousands of area listings.
• The map, albeit great to view on a large display, had no search capability, a la Google Maps or even Microsoft Live Maps.
• And then what? So you've looked up 5 great shops, restaurants, and bars to hit that night. After seeing them on the Surface, you're forced to then write them down ... or take the table with you, I suppose. It would be great if it let you at least print out or e-mail your findings.

While operating it, a young woman came up to me, amazed, and asked me what it was. I guess I have to expand outside my world of influence, because I assumed everyone knew what the Surface was at this point, but I was happy to demonstrate it to her. I felt like one of those people in that initial promotional video Microsoft made, or the even-better spoof video. All said, it was a pretty useful tool for finding information from a limited pool, but the Boston Sheraton needs to promote it more or at least have a sign near it that reads, "Hey, come check out this wicked cool table."