The Townsend Report

Last week I attended the Microsoft Public Sector CIO Summit in Redmond, WA. Hundreds of chief information officers and other IT executives from federal, state and local agencies were in attendance. The presentations were wide-ranging, from security to cloud computing to anticipated new product releases. Of all these, one of the most exciting themes that emerged was the newest generation of interfaces: multitouch and natural user interfaces. The prevalence of smart phones, particularly the iPhone and Droid, have put multitouch in the hands of millions of users. At the larger end of the device spectrum, Microsoft and Sumsing offer the second version of Surface, a multitouch device that may be mounted horizontally or vertically. The other piece of the puzzle is Kinect, Microsoft's motion sensor that has been a runaway hit on XBox360. More than any vendor, Microsoft supports the full spectrum of devices and form factors. With recent announcements to support iPad, iPho