Kinect for Xbox 360 is a multi-million-unit selling success for Microsoft, so it's only natural that the Redmond company would want to extend the capabilities to the desktop. Traditional Kinect, though, works when users are sitting some distance away from the Kinect sensors and cameras. Kinect for Windows has to work in both default and "near" mode (as close as 40 cm from the Kinect hardware). In other words, when you're sitting at your desk, right in front of your Windows computer.
According to a brief teaser post on the Kinect for Windows Blog, version 1.5 will arrive sometime in late May and bring with it enhanced skeletal tracking capabilities that work in near and default mode. Called "10-joint" skeletal tracking, the Kinect for Windows update can track the head, neck and arms of seated or standing users. The implications for typical desktop computer users are obvious, since in normal use the bottom half of their body may be hidden beneath the desk.
Kinect for Windows, which costs $249, also includes speech recognition capabilities and 1.5 adds support for four new languages: French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, as well as regional speech-recognition packs. Microsoft is also expanding Kinect for Windows availability around the globe, adding 19 more countries in May and June, including Brazil, India, Austria and South Africa.