Microsoft Surface may not be about immediate return on investment, unless of course you are Harrah’s, but I think it could give companies who are willing to take the leap into the 21st century a competitive advantage. In my mind Surface can bring 3 things to user experience:

• Efficiency.
• Uniformity.
• Innovation.

Efficiency

Think about the things that drive satisfaction. In a retail situation, you just want the transaction to be correct and expedient.

Uniformity

People don’t like McDonald’s for the food (do they?), they like it because they know that no matter which McDonald’s they go to, wherever the hell they are, they are going to get the exact same thing. That said, they do not have apple pies in China, they have pineapple pies! Brilliant! Surface has the power to bring that uniformity.

We rely on the Internet to do everything from communicating with our friends, families and colleagues to choosing a new cappucino maker. A good deal of the technology we provided for your webbing enjoyment is free, but supported software with guaranteed uptime generally does not exist without a revenue model (for long). Companies like Yahoo! and Google provide us with oodles of free tools without so much as having to say “Oh Toodles”. We know the juggernaut model. They sell ads and they roll in dough. So when people complain about Yahoo or Google tools being down, I am sympathetic because whether the notice it or not, those companies are earning money by having you as a user. But what about those that do not have a revenue model to speak of?