Bill Gates unveils Touch Wall

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates envisions a future where inexpensive touchscreens will cover the surfaces of homes and offices.

Unveiling Touch Wall, Gates demonstrated a vertical version of Microsoft's Surface technology at the company's CEO summit.

Introducing the interactive wall as something "new, risky and exciting", Gates said that he expects this technology to be "absolutely pervasive" in the future.

"Our view is that all the surfaces – horizontal surfaces, vertical surfaces – will eventually have an inexpensive screen-display capability and software that sees what you're doing there, so it's completely interactive," he told attendees at the summit.

Standing beside a 4 x 6ft screen, fitted with a camera to detect touch, Gates said that the technology is still at the research-and-development stage, but the company is using components of its interactivity at all levels, adding that he expects this technology to be affordable.

"This kind of whiteboard, with a little bit of hardware advance over the next couple of years, will not be an expensive thing, and that's why we're saying that it will be absolutely pervasive," Gates claimed.

You can watch a video of Bill Gates demonstrating the Touch Wall at the CEO Summit.