After the successful launch of the Kinect for Xbox 360 last November, Microsoft announced that it would release a non-commercial Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit, or SDK, this spring.

During Microsoft’s TechForum, Craig Mundie and Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business, unveiled plans to launch a Kinect for developers and enthusiasts before releasing it commercially. The Microsoft Blog reads,

“It will be available this spring as a free download, and will give academic researchers and enthusiasts access to key pieces of the Kinect system—such as the audio technology, system application programming interfaces and direct control of the Kinect sensor itself. Supporting this community and enabling creativity around natural user interfaces (NUI) is important to us, and our hope is that this SDK will ignite further creativity in an already vibrant ecosystem of enthusiasts.”

According to AOL Tech, the new Kinect will enable developers to utilize Microsoft’s own drivers and libraries to let them use not only camera data, but also the microphone and the motors, but they have to be willing to give their programs away for free. This move is seen as a way to allow researchers to have a platform to openly explore what they can do with the Kinect without having to resort to hacking or using unofficial drivers, like they did with the Xbox 360 Kinect.

Last November, not long after the Kinect’s release, hackers easily found other ways than gaming, to use the device such as holographic interfaces and video chatting. At first, Microsoft condemned these acts, but then announced that the hackers wouldn’t be pursued in court. Now, Techspot reports that the new Kinect release for academics and developers is “part of their research wing’s strategy to embrace developers and make it “easier for academic research and enthusiast communities to create even richer experiences using Kinect technology.”