Kinectable Linux on Its Way - The UpStream

If you have had an ache to build a motion-controlled application for Linux, have I got some great news for you. Igalia, the people who brought you WebKit, the browser engine that powers iPhone, Android and webOS, comes the next generation of Kinect playground.

Skeltrack is an open source library for interacting with Kinect without using the already pre-made library provided by Microsoft, which would be important if you were using it on Linux. While the purpose is a little unclear, what is clear is the talent this team has. They have managed to replicate the pre-E3 2009 state of Project Natal, tracking a single skeleton and 7 joints.

Personally I cannot see where or how this will have any real-world implementation as Linux's reach outside of the web server realm, where it is also losing ground, and mobile devices, which do not have USB to run Kinect, is one really lonely guy at ZDNet. I suppose the 4 remaining people who are writing Windows apps in Java might also be able to benefit from it, but the vast majority of software these days is written in Visual Studio, where you can use the full-featured, official Microsoft SDK for Kinect.

So, what do you think? Really cool tool or a lot of time spent duplicating something Microsoft gives out for free? Let us know in the comments section.