Microsoft ships Kinect for Windows, posts finished SDK

On schedule, Microsoft has started shipping the Kinect for Windows add-on and its matching software. The sensor lets those on Windows 7, 8, and Embedded use the motion control from the Xbox with optimizations for the PC world, such as tracking subjects as close as 15.7 inches as well as a PC-oriented USB cable. It costs $249 for anyone, although it will cost $149 for educational users later.

The Software Dev Kit has now reached a finished 1.0 state and has had some improvements since the beta versions. Developers making apps

can handle both the Kinect for Windows sensor's features as well as run as many as four Kinect sensors on one PC. It now lets developers pick a specific person to track, updates the listening to improve speech recognition, and brings a ready-made installer so that an app can install the Kinect sensor at the same time.

The SDK is free.