Easy Access to Kinect for Windows Sample Code

We are happy to announce we are releasing the Kinect for Windows samples under an open source license.  You can find everything on CodePlex: https://kinectforwindows.codeplex.com/.  We have posted a total of 22 unique samples in C#, C++, and Visual Basic.

We’re doing this for a few reasons:

1. Easy Access -> we will continue to release our sample applications as part of our Developer Toolkit.  However, that’s a large download & install that can be cumbersome if you just want to quickly view or access code on the web
2. Reuse The Code -> we’re releasing all the samples under an Apache 2.0 license so that you can take the code and reuse, remix, etc.  Also, we’re using a Git repository so it’s easy clone & fork if you want
3. Get Feedback -> we will use CodePlex's built-in feedback & discussion tools to get community input on the samples.  We want to hear from you to understand what we can do better with the samples
4. Faster Updates -> we will be able to update samples more quickly on CodePlex (compared to Toolkit releases).  CodePlex also has a “Subscribe” feature that enables you to follow the project and get notified when something changes, a bug gets fixed, someone says something smart in the discussions, etc.  (note:  the subscription feature doesn’t actually track the smartness of a post but one can dream :-))

 

Browse K4W sample code right in your browser...   

 
Oh Yeah, This Blog is New

You probably noticed:  this is our first blog post.  We are committed to this blog becoming a useful resource to the Kinect for Windows development community.  Our existing product blog (at https://blogs.msdn.com/b/kinectforwindows/) will continue to focus on announcements, product news, and highlighting great, real-world uses of Kinect for Windows.  The developer blog (where you are now) will focus on going behind the scenes with the K4W engineering team and will go deeper on the technology and APIs, share tips & tricks, and provide other tidbits of information relevant to those building K4W applications.

We have ideas in mind for future posts but would love to hear from you to understand what topics would be most useful to you.  Please use the comments below, hit up the team on Twitter @KinectWindows, or get in touch with me directly (contact info below).

 

Ben

@benlower | kinectninja@microsoft.com | mobile:  +1 (206) 659-NINJA (6465)

Comments

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2013
  Thanks for this.

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2013
  Thanks

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2013
  Great, THX

• Anonymous
  March 10, 2013
  thanks for share

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2013
  Very Well.

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2013
  e......

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2013
  Very nice, I am liking the direction Microsoft is heading with making their software open. Microsoft today has completely changed from the Microsoft we knew before, in an awesome way :)

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2013
  Thanks for this really good news will be exciting to see what people come up with!

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2013
  Great Job - many thanks

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2013
  its really great thnx alot

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2013
  Opening up the kinect code is the smartest (and most unexpected) thing MS could have done. The community of open developers are hundreds of times better than the devs at MS. Who knows, there might even be a good game for it one day.

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2013
  Thanks, it would be a killer if you did this half a year ago !

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2013
  Thanks for the positive feedback on this! @John yes we are working hard to be awesome :)  more importantly we strive to help our developers & partners create awesome experiences using K4W @Russell agreed there are tons of top devs out there but i take issue with your statement regarding other devs being "hundreds of times better" than our devs.  we've got a world-class team here.  working together means we will accomplish much more & see things progress faster.

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2013
  @Peter:  thanks!  please keep pushing us on how we can better enable you.  i can't promise that we will be able to do everything but we want to hear what's getting in the way and what we can do better.

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2013
  Bravo, great to see this type of attitude coming from MSFT

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2013
  wow.. apache 2.0 license? Fantastic! Hope to see more of this from Microsoft.

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2013
  Excellent thanks.

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 13, 2013
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 13, 2013
  This has come at the right time, Thanks.

• Anonymous
  March 21, 2013
  Hi, i am so excited with the new release. I would like to ask you something completly different with this post. It's about the upcoming Microsoft Kinect SDK wrapper that binds Unity with Kinect sensor. Do you know when is going to be released?

• Anonymous
  April 12, 2013
  Should we expect anything similar for other platforms (e.g. linux)?

• Anonymous
  June 23, 2014
  Thanks.