Software giant, Microsoft has launched Kinect for Windows SDK and runtime as promised by the company earlier.

The company also said the Kinect hardware will now be offered through distribution partners. The Kinect motion and voice sensor was originally designed for Microsoft's Xbox gaming console but it also attracted a lot of developer interest for new apps.

Microsoft has allowed third-party developers have build Kinect apps for Personal computers. However, it is only for non-commercial use. The new software development kit (SDK) will allow developers to launch commercial products based on the sensor.

The SDK and runtime version will include improvements over the most recent beta version, according to blog post by Craig Eisler, general manager of Kinect for Windows. The new version will enable support for up to four Kinect sensors connected to the same computer.

It also has the latest Microsoft speech recognition technology as well as installer that will allow developers to integrate application set-up programs. Eisler also wrote in the blog post that the company is planning to release updates to the SDK and runtime two to three times a year.