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I'd love to try this, but the all-Microsoft stack required to use this SDK is a huge barrier to entry. I use a Mac, I don't know C#, Silverlight, Visual studio
by dstein 15y ago
I'd love to try this, but the all-Microsoft stack required to use this SDK is a huge barrier to entry. I use a Mac, I don't know C#, Silverlight, Visual studio etc. In order to use this SDK I need to buy into MS tech on many levels. A browser plugin with a JavaScript API (even if IE only), would be very compelling and a lot more accessible.
- iamelgringo 15y agoSign up as a startup for BizSpark, and their entire stack is free: https://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/Startup/Signup.aspx https://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/Startup/Signup.aspx You can run it in a VM.
- IanDrake 15y ago>Applications that are built with this SDK Beta must run in a native Windows environment. You cannot run applications in a virtual machine, because the Microsoft Kinect drivers and this SDK Beta must be installed on the computer that is running the application. That's out...
- bretthopper 15y agoYeah that would be like Apple requiring Mac hardware, OS X, Xcode, and Objective-C to do iOS development...
- dstein 15y agoI have the same criticism there too. I prefer multi-platform IDE's.
- recoiledsnake 15y agoAt least a PC can be got for $300 to $500, unlike a Mac starting at $699.
- billybob 15y ago...neither of which is really the point. Even if they both gave you free hardware, you've got to learn their technology stack just to try it out. Unlike, say, web development, where a few seconds of text editing gives you a "hello world" that will work on any platform.
- recoiledsnake 15y ago>they both gave you free hardware, you've got to learn their technology stack just to try it out They don't, and there are lot of people, especially worldwide where Macs are less common and are much more expensive. Learning something is an investment of your free time, whereas hardware needs cold cash. Not exactly equivalent or comparable especially when not in the first world.
- random42 15y agoHow is that not the point? For a for-profit business, to make a sale eventually, is the major point.
- nitrogen 15y agoI bought the Kinect. I'll use it as I see fit. Is that not a sale? The previous poster's point was that the open source software allows one to use the Kinect in a cross-platform, standards-compliant setting. Microsoft's coming out with something half as featureful, with serious platform restrictions. Their SDK's only advantages are "officialness" and a more complete audio API.
- patrickk 15y agoBear in mind the similarities between C# and Java. This will help if you are already familiar with the latter. A small example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_C_Sharp_and_Java#Delegates_.2F_method_references http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_C_Sharp_and_Java#...
- recoiledsnake 15y agoYou can use OpenNI. http://c4c.posterous.com/installing-openni-kinect-drivers-and-nite-on http://c4c.posterous.com/installing-openni-kinect-drivers-an...
- trotsky 15y agoA browser plugin with a JavaScript API You sound like a web dev, which is fair enough, but isn't Microsoft busy (for varying values of busy) trying to promote native technologies and discourage the browser as a platform view for obvious business reasons?
- dstein 15y agoI am. And Microsoft also recently announced that Windows 8 UI's are HTML5/JS, and yet here they go and release a brand new Silverlight/C# API. This is one very confused company.
- seanalltogether 15y agoI keep a bootcamp partition for exactly these reasons, and there are free express version of visual studio for jumping in to these types of projects.