Recently, I have been playing around with Microsoft’s new mobile barcode technology, dubbed Microsoft Tag. Microsoft describes the technology as a High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) that’s designed for maximum performance using cameras on mobile phones. Although the name is new, the technology has been around Microsoft Research for quite some time. I certainly remember reading about this more than a year ago and I am happy to report that it works very well!
Scalable and Colorful
Microsoft Tag is similar to other 2D barcodes like QR-Code, Semacode or DataMatrix 2D. Unlike other codes, Microsoft Tags uses a grid of colored triangles to encode data and depending of the intended use, the grid size and number of colors used may vary. Also, the scale of readable tags can vary from something that would fit on a business card to a roadside billboard.
Bruce is a Microsoft MVP (C#) and founder of Simplify, where he specializes in designing and developing enterprise and mobile applications. In addition to teaching and mentoring developers, Bruce runs the Montgomery Area .NET Developer Group and is frequent speaker at MSDN, user groups and community events.