Great news for all Kinect hackers and enthusiasts out there – Microsoft will be releasing a Software Development Kit (SDK) for the Kinect on Windows 7. No longer will users have to rely on the raw data that they’ve been extracting from the device with custom open source software for their mods and hacks – they will soon get official tools to unleash the full power of the Kinect. The official SDK will be released this spring and will allow users to create new Kinect-powered software and tools without any knowledge of how the camera works. This means that we’ll be seeing a whole lot more Kinect action in 2011 than when it first exploded onto the scene last year. Kudos to Microsoft for embracing the developing community on this one, now let’s see what they can come up with using the SDK.