The launch of Microsoft Kinect for Windows looks like another fantastic waste of time for anyone but software developers. It doesn’t do anything. Paul Thurrott writes:
Long story short, there’s only one reason to get a Kinect for Windows right now: You’re a developer that wishes to create Kinect-compatible apps for Windows. How Microsoft could have shipped this thing without at least a few games, or at least configuration utilities, however, is beyond me. It’s a weird chicken-and-egg thing right now: Users might want a Kinect to play games, but there aren’t any. Yet.
I have Kinect for my Xbox 360 and I’ve used it precisely once. I can’t imagine any situation where I’d ever want that technology attached to my computer. But if you disagree, you can get your Kinect Sensor for Windows now for just $249.99. And hope some enterprising software developer builds an application that makes the Kinect do something beyond stare back at you.
I just took delivery of the latest HP ProLiant MicroServer. It’s a minor refresh from the previous model. HP now boasts these latest models offer more efficient power and a 250 GB hard drive, replacing the 160GB drive in the last generation MicroServer. Memory stays supplied at 1GB and graphics is still integrated with 128 MB shared memory.