Microsoft's hugely successful motion sensor technology Kinect is being released for Windows on February 1st. This will allow Windows 7 (and later Windows 8) users to interact with PCs without a keyboard or mouse.

As well as motion control, Kinect for Windows also includes voice control, which could make Windows 8 a really interesting and flexible operating system. Microsoft's Kinect for Windows SDK for developers has been available for a couple of months now, so developers can already get stuck into experimenting with Kinect integration into apps.

I am excited about the possibilities for Kinect for Windows - in recent years Apple's excellent trackpads have been my favorite navigation tools, but I can imagine Windows 8 with motion control being fantastic. Using gesture controls on an office desktop would be really comfortable as a replacement for a mouse if it's precise enough - for me motion control on a desktop makes much more sense than touchscreens, which are better used on portable devices.

With Kinect for Windows, 2012 has got off to a great start for PC users, and the potential for new software is huge.