Email Interview With DragonSoft Research (M) Sdn. Bhd.

Email Interview With Mr. Mohan Louis (Business Development) of DragonSoft Research (M) Sdn Bhd.

DragonSoft Research is a company pioneering in multi-touch technology. Its objective is to be the pioneer in developing, commercializing and bringing to the forefront new technologies that will enhance or even simplify the ways we interact with the technology that surrounds us.

The need for multi-touch technology, besides being futuristic, is for multi-users collaboration and effective interactivity.

Mr. Mohan Louis tells us about the infancy of such technology (even globally), what opportunity lies ahead and what the industry can look forward to, including software developers.

The followings are the questions and answers:

1. Tell us a little about DragonSoft Research (who is the founder, key persons and what are the objectives) ?

Dragonsoft Research is the collective brainchild of Paul Stinchcombe, Kenneth Raj, Mohan Louis, Dwayne Boudville and Kevin Raj. Paul and Kenneth currently direct the Technical and R&D departments respectively. Mohan heads the business development side of the organization, while Dwayne currently oversees and directs all marketing efforts and communications. Kevin, meanwhile, oversees and directs the hardware development of the technology.

We have an Account Manager, Madeline Tan, who oversees the day to day operations of the business such as client servicing and team supervision. Where development is concerned, she has found her niche by providing us with creative input and direction, as her passion and appreciation for design helps ensure that all our applications strike the perfect balance needed between form and functionality.

The objective of Dragonsoft Research is to be the pioneer in developing, commercializing and bringing to the forefront new technologies that will enhance or even simplify the ways we interact with the technology that surrounds us.

2. We understand that multi-touch technology is what you are selling, is this the only product ?

No. Truth be told, we currently have other applications of immersion technologies for sale that we've developed independantly such as augmented reality, real time scene manipulation as well as gesture based interaction technology. We think of these various forms of technology as an enhancement and expansion to immersion technology as a whole.

3. Multi-touch is relatively new in Malaysia, tell us a bit more on the market scenario ?

Multi-touch as a whole is still pretty much at it's infancy stage universally. Researchers and developers, regardless of geographical location, are generally faced with the same set of challenges and obstacles that arise from this. This could be from something as simple as designing and developing an application that fully utilizes multitouch functionality to other challenges such as identifying new ways of applying this technology to serve a broader spectrum.

As with everything new, the pioneers will need to take it upon themselves to educate the public and market on the potential exploits that can be achieved with this technology.

4. Can you give us a hint on the pricing and the brand of your product range ?

As for the price, I am so sorry that I can't provide you with a figure. This is because at this point in time, all systems developed and deployed are customized solutions meant for that particular Client. There are plans to roll out a modular unit, which should be available for sale off the shelf, but this we don't foresee realizing before the end of the year as we're pretty much booked with work till then. As for the brand, it will carry our name on it as we developed the technology that makes this happen (both in terms of the software AND the hardware)

5. Using such technology seems a little far fetched for users because mouse-pointer seems like good enough for normal users, besides that, software application are mainly developed to be compatible with mouse-pointer. Is there any special APIs for software developers to use or what platforms (Microsoft, Java, Linux) are best suited for software developers to leverage on multi-touch?

The nature of this technology condones collaboration in an entirely new way. Thus, as you so aptly put it, it is a little far-fetched for normal users in everyday situations, but the moment they are thrown into the world of team collaboration and efficient team-work, multi-touch technology brings forth a whole new playing
ground to these users. At the moment, there are various ways to achieve this effects, including using development environments such as Flash, Java, Quartz Composer, VVVV, Max/MSP and other real-time capable environments. Of course, choosing any one of these will of dictate the variety of applications you can deliver based on the limitations of the environment. There are some operating systems that natively support multi touch capabilities such as Windows 7, some
distributions of Linux and there are even certain plugins forthe Mac OSX that allow multi-touch capabilities to be tied into the operating system. Development of applications is however, less mind boggling. Most environments will allow standard communication methods to be accessed this makes front-end applications somewhat cross platform. Especially if that platform happens to be Flash.

6. What traits should a software have in order to fully utilize the capability of multi-touch ?

Even before you embark on the software development process, you should already have a solid idea for an application that will showcase the use of multitouch. The technology is after all only as good and as attractive as its displayed and developed application and content.

One rule of thumb is to make sure that any ideas for content or application that will be used on the multitouch table should be able to support multiple users. This is after all the USP for multitouch. Should they not want it to be available for multiple users to be using it at the same time, it should have other functionalities that will exploit the use of its multitouch capability.

7. Can you point us to uploaded videos on youtube ?



This is a video is about a unit we just deployed and delivered 2 weekends ago. It was an interactive table measuring 4ft x 8ft and many attendees actually said that it could actually be the largest to ever be developed and deployed in Malaysia to date.



This is a video is about an event at which our unit was used as the main launch gambit. That event was officiated by our PM.



This is a video is about an interactive floor system that was also developed by us. We are the only people in the SEA region to have successfully managed to come up with a solution that will not have any shadows that care caused by people walking on the floor.

Comments

Brandon Teoh said…
From now onwards, all anonymous comments have been removed and will not be allowed.

For the benefits of all parties.

Thanks.