Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, has said that Microsoft might roll out PC support for Kinect at “the right time.”
A Microsoft spokesperson that spoke with CVG said differently, "It's easy to imagine the many ways Kinect could be used for different applications and Microsoft is uniquely positioned to offer that. Right now our focus with Kinect is transforming games and entertainment on Xbox 360.”
That is not necessarily at odds with what Ballmer said, but it does appear that Microsoft, and not Ballmer, is shying away from offering Kinect functionality on the PC. However, Ballmer’s claims seem to indicate that functionality may be coming sooner rather than later. If we do see that functionality this year, it is likely to be in the form of a firmware update instead of a Kinect exclusive for PCs.
The Kinect has been hacked by some enterprising groups, and if they can do it, surely Microsoft can add that functionality without too much trouble. In my mind, the only question is how much it will cost the consumer, because as we all know Microsoft doesn’t do much for free.
