Immediately after its public release the Microsoft Kinect was hacked apart and open sourced. That, is the open driver has been around for some time now. However, now the official beta SDK by Microsoft has been released. It includes drivers, API's for raw sensor streams and human motion tracking (similar to open-NI framework)...
Features included in the SDK:
- Raw sensor streams
- Skeletal tracking
- Advanced audio capabilities
- Sample code and documentation
- Easy installation
More info: Microsoft research
