The waiting is finally over, the Kinect for Windows SDK Beta is now available!

That's right the waiting is finally over. No more hourglass, it's time to plug your Kinect into your Windows PC, download the Kinect for Windows SDK and become part of the most wildly successful and exciting rollouts in years.

That's right, no more hacking, no more slashing, no more third party drivers, the official Kinect for Windows SDK is just a download away (You're still here? Ah... you're at work and your Kinect is at home... I see, well the SDK download will be waiting for you...

Without further ado, download the Kinect for Windows SDK, (http://research.microsoft.com/kinectsdk)

Once you download the Kinect for Windows SDK (or while your waiting for the clock to hurry up so you can get home) make sure you check out the Kinect QuickStart videos here on Channel 9. From install to working with the major Kinect features, the quickstarts will get you up, running and coding away!

Kinect for Windows SDK Quickstarts

• Installing and Using the Kinect Sensor
• Setting up your Development Environment
• Camera Fundamentals
• Working with Depth Data
• Skeletal Tracking Fundamentals
• Audio Fundamentals

Keep your eyes, and feed subscriptions here, where we'll be highlighting cool and fun projects for you to check out, more details on the quickstarts and more.

Post Announcement Update:

You can download the SDK at http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/download.aspx. There's a 32 and 64 bit version (use the version that matches your OS bit'ness).

If you missed the live event, you can grab it on demand here (for the time being)