One Kinect Sensor to Rule Them All

In the past, Microsoft has produced two different Kinect sensors, one for Xbox and one for Windows. The sensors weren't functionally different, but the engineering and communication were different to accommodate the two different platforms.

The Windows version wasn't a hot seller. I actually had five of these things, but only because I obtained them through a special deal with the Microsoft Communities. I thought they'd be nice to have as giveaways at User Group meetings and conferences. But, the value wasn't there and I eventually just tossed them out with the trash during one of my office reorganization stints.

With Microsoft working to consolidate code across devices in Windows 10, it makes sense that the company would announce that it is ending manufacturing the Windows version of the sensor. Microsoft says it's due to an effort to simplify and create consistency for developers, but that's probably just PR-speak.

The company wants to ensure developers that it is still committed to the Kinect as s development platform for both Xbox and Windows, so instead of making the sensor a strict Xbox device, the company offers a special Kinect Adapter for Windows. With the Kinect Adapter for Windows, you can connect the standard Xbox One sensor to a PC via USB 3.0 to create custom solutions and experiences for your business, or publish apps to the Windows Store.

The current version of the SDK (version 2.0) is still available, but is yet to support Windows 10. It currently only supports Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows Embedded Standard 8. Some have attempted to run SDK v2 on Windows 10 with varying results. Some things work, some things don't.

Microsoft has yet supply information about a Kinect SDK update for Windows 10, but will probably do so at BUILD in a few weeks. For now, the support statement is what you'd expect:

We have not tested, and DO NOT support the v2 sensor or SDK running on Windows 10 tech preview.

This is similar to Windows 8, before it shipped we didn't not support it. After Windows 8 shipped, our next update was tested and supported on that OS.