“Gentlemen, this is the future!”

I was preparing our booth at the annual CHI conference when the staff of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) showed up. These are the gentlemen and ladies who prepare and maintain the center for the rest of us. Without them, there will be a few thousand very confused and caffeine-deprived HCI scientists and students… so these guys spotted the Microsoft Surface and were absolutely intrigued. I proceed to give them a demo and had them interact with the unit. One guy said, “Gentlemen, this is the future!” They stuck around and played with the unit for quite a while until their supervisor came and had them go back to work.