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>  It appears similar to Jeff Han's groundbreaking work, but seems to 
>use different technology.  I think the Microsoft version uses video 
>tracking, while Jeff uses something called "total frustrated 
>internal reflection."

A snippet from an email on another listserv that I'm on that 
discusses some of the origins:

At 8:07 PM -0700 5/30/07, Chris Bernard wrote:
>Some people have asked on this list how Microsoft Surface was 
>created and who worked on it, with specific inquiries into Bill 
>Buxton. Bill has consulting on the project since about 2004 (About a 
>year before he came into Microsoft. The principal folks in Microsoft 
>that made the project a reality are guys named Andy Wilson and Steve 
>Bathiche.
>
>As Will Parker points out there is a large body of work from a 
>number of companies and efforts that have focused on similar topics 
>(The most notable and relevant perhaps being Philips under Irene 
>Mccara Williams).
>
>http://www.design.philips.com/About/Design/Section-13506/Index.html

[snip]

>As I learn more about what I can share about Microsoft Surface I 
>will share it here. I suspect that it might get mentioned in a few 
>weeks at the UPA conference in Austin where Bill Buxton is speaking.
>
>Chris Bernard
>Microsoft
>User Experience Evangelist
>[log in to unmask]
>312.925.4095
>
>Blog: www.designthinkingdigest.com
>Design: www.microsoft.com/design
>Tools: www.microsoft.com/expression

But, yeah, looking at some of the Surface videos, they seem very 
similar to some of Jeff's demos, interface-wise. It may just be that 
there's now starting to form a common vernacular to tangible touch 
interfaces, though.

-bw.
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