Microsoft will allow developers to track two people with Kinect

GAMES CONSOLE DEVELOPER Microsoft has said that academics and enthusiasts will be able to get access to Kinect through Windows 7 later this spring.

Ever since Microsoft launched Kinect at the tail end of 2010, developers have been clamouring for access to the device on PCs. Microsoft has said that it will provide a Kinect software development kit (SDK) for Windows 7 and yesterday it put out a little more detail on what academics and enthusiasts will get when it releases the Kinect SDK.

Microsoft got the important question out of the way by saying that it will release the Windows 7 Kinect SDK later this Spring, tending to suggest that it will tip up in the next couple of months. Microsoft described some of the features that developers will have access to, including 4-channel audio processing, sound source localisation for beamforming, depth data and two person skeletal tracking.

The company has been promoting its upcoming Kinect SDK for some time, saying that it will allow developers to create new ways of interacting with technology. The device does provide a number of new user interaction methods and the company hopes that Kinect will serve as a catalyst for user interface development.

Although Microsoft didn't disclose when the Kinect SDK will be available, the details it has been drip feeding do make it seem like the real deal, giving developers considerable access to Kinect's hardware. The motion sensing Xbox console accessory has been a sales hit for Microsoft and set a world record as the fastest selling consumer device ever.

It is unlikely that Microsoft will allow the Kinect to connect to non-Microsoft operating systems. After all, with researchers and enthusiasts developing new ways of interacting with Windows 7 applications, it could become quite a selling point for the operating system. µ