Gates: Natal on PC is "a little over a year away"
Microsoft founder anticipates costs will reduce enough by then to make it realistic for most offices
Project Natal technology could be available for PC in little over a year, Bill Gates has revealed in an interview.
The former Microsoft CEO name-checked the depth-sensing camera hardware shown running on Xbox 360 for the first time at this year's E3 as one of the most exciting projects currently being worked on by the company.
"I was over at the Cambridge lab a few weeks ago - over at the India lab as part of a trip I take this month - and that's really the sort of crown jewel in terms of always feeding neat new things into Microsoft," Gates told CNET. "I'd say a cool example of that, that you'll see is kind of stunning, in a little over a year, is this depth-sensing camera thing. Not just for games, but for media consumption as a whole."
Although the Natal technology was brought into the spotlight through a gaming demo by Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux, Gates talks of its potential in an office capacity saying that running on a Windows PC it can offer users all sorts of options for meeting, collaboration and communication.
Not only that, but the price of the finished product could make it a realistic addition for "most" offices, according to Gates.
"I think the value is as great for if you're in the home, as you want to manage your movies, music, home system type stuff, it's very cool there. And I think there's incredible value as we use that in the office connected to a Windows PC. So Microsoft research and the product groups have a lot going on there, because you can use the cost reduction that will take place over the years to say, 'Why shouldn't that be in most office environments?'"