New Webcam from Microsoft is Extra Bendy

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-13NewLifeCams08PR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press Releases' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-13NewLifeCams08PR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press Releases</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;Today, Microsoft Corp. reshapes the webcam experience with the LifeCam VX-5000, a webcam with a unique bendable attachment base that molds to virtually any surface &mdash; from a notebook to a desktop &mdash; so users can take it anywhere. For personalized flair, the LifeCam VX-5000 features a brightly colored ring around the front of the webcam in the colors Cool Blue, Lucky Green and Fire Red, allowing consumers to choose their favorite to suit their style. To complement the fresh, new look, the LifeCam VX-5000 features MSN Photo Swap, a special feature that lets consumers share digital photos in midvideo conversation and see real-time reactions as both callers view the pictures. The new webcam arrives just in time to help share summer vacation memories and keep consumers connected throughout the year.&quot;<br /><br /></em><img border="0" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1210719826.usr10.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />The flexible base is an interesting idea.&nbsp; It looks like you can either use it freestanding as pictured, or bend it to mount on an LCD monitor.&nbsp; And as a plus, with some minor mods, it could substitute for the HAL 9000.

[Jason Dunn]

I got given one of these tonight at Mobius - looks pretty neat! :)

[ionen]

usually microsoft will try to make its products user-friendly, so as this

That should be the idea behind every merchandise of every company in the known universe - having the user and its needs in mind when planning and designing their next product

[Darius Wey]

Now compare Visual studio with java which is also used to make projects,
Java involves us to write many lines of code but in Visual Studio, just drag and drop and in between we insert a little code in the middle just to link webpages or close or open the connections like Con Open(); or Con Close();

Am I right Ionen.

This is straying way off-topic, but you're pitting a programming language against an IDE, which makes little sense.

[Janak Parekh]

Darius I was just saying that Microsoft products will be more user friendly and really i don't know on which platform they are built. You're making a massive generalization, one that I don't think even Microsoft would agree with, because they have different products that target different groups of users.

For example, MS VC++ is more complicated than C#, which in turn is more complicated than VB.Net. This is by design. I don't think anyone could call C++ "user-friendly".

And, Darius is correct -- Java and C# are very similar languages in terms of programming difficulty. This, again, is by design. One can use IDEs for Java (Eclipse, NetBeans come to mind) that are on par with Visual Studio in terms of "user-friendliness".

In any case, all of this is largely off-topic for this thread. Using webcams to make a generalization of operating system or programming language user-friendliness is a stretch at best. These products are designed by different teams at different companies, and I'd be very surprised if Windows developers and product managers are involved in the designing of a webcam.

(I do think the webcam design is cool, though. ;))

--janak