The problem is, you're a sharecropper. Microsoft owns the Kinect and its surrounding ecosystem-- lock, stock, and barrel.
If there's a real market for Kinect development tools, Microsoft will sooner or later own it, exactly the way that they own the C++ development tools market on Windows, Zune, XBox 360, etc.
It would make a lot of sense for them to release something like what you've developed for free. After all, if it pushes up Kinect sales and locks developers more tightly into the Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft will want to do it.
Even if they don't want to release the development tools for free, I see no reason why they should let you access their hardware. The next version of the device could easily have a locked-down, encrypted communication channel. Look at how hard Microsoft tried to prevent the various XBox iterations from getting hacked. They even went so far as encrypting the buses that ran inside the device.
If you really want to work in this area, build your own hardware and make it a truly open platform. However, be prepared for attacks from a known patent troll.
> It would make a lot of sense for them to release something like what you've developed for free.
Yeah, sounds like the whole bet there is on Microsoft SDK being not good enough.
Back in the 90s a whole bunch of companies were making money off their own libraries and SDKs. Borland, Microsoft, Crystal Reports. Then the trend kinda died off, and SDK developers usually sell consulting or SAAS.
You could also use the Asus Xtion Pro Live. Like the Kinect, it's derived from the original PrimeSense device. As an added bonus, there is no annoying extra power cord and the RGB and depth frames are actually synchronized.
The problem zero userbase - it was supposed to be launched with an ASUS media-center PC with some other cool tech as the WAVI Xtion (WAVI is an existing product they make that does uncompressed 1080p streaming). Unfortunately, that just didn't happen, so there's still no competing consumer product.
If there's a real market for Kinect development tools, Microsoft will sooner or later own it, exactly the way that they own the C++ development tools market on Windows, Zune, XBox 360, etc.
It would make a lot of sense for them to release something like what you've developed for free. After all, if it pushes up Kinect sales and locks developers more tightly into the Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft will want to do it.
Even if they don't want to release the development tools for free, I see no reason why they should let you access their hardware. The next version of the device could easily have a locked-down, encrypted communication channel. Look at how hard Microsoft tried to prevent the various XBox iterations from getting hacked. They even went so far as encrypting the buses that ran inside the device.
If you really want to work in this area, build your own hardware and make it a truly open platform. However, be prepared for attacks from a known patent troll.