Windows Goes Multi-Touch

[Mykbibby]

At the tech conference All things D, Microsoft gave a small preview of Windows 7 with... multi-touch support.

I can tell you one thing... if Microsoft beats Apple to the punch on this one, Jobs sure wont be happy!

Click for Link

[darklyt]

I think Jobs already won since the iPhone runs OS X and has multitouch. Also, the Macbooks Air and Pro have multitouch trackpads, so OS X (the one on computers) definitely has some multitouch already. The difference is, no Mac has multitouch on the display yet.

[NT1440]

i think jobs is more than aware that as it stands currently, touch as a MAIN feature for a computer is useless

[sushi]

Watched the video.

Nothing earth shattering there.

[MacRumors]

The next major version of Windows (currently dubbed 'Windows 7') was demoed briefly today at the All Things Digital conference. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer spoke with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher and briefly demoed multi-touch Windows 7.

Microsoft has adapted the multi-touch technology of their Surface computer into Windows.


Article Link

[mmccaskill]

Originally Posted by Steve Balmer

There's a lot in Windows 7, and our goal's got to be, with our hardware partners, to produce fantastic PCs. ... We'll sell 270m PCs a year, and Apple will sell 10m. Apple is fantastically successful, and so are we.

Except when 2010 rolls around if won't be ready, just like Vista.

[NT1440]

and nothing of value was gained.......

does M$ really think that every computer is going to have multitouch screens when this gets released in 3, no 4, no 6 years?

its nice on a small device, but for an actual computer its pretty pointless, also did anyone see how buggy/not userfriendly the pictures rotate and expand?

[stefanski]

>We'll sell 270m PCs a year, and Apple will sell 10m. Apple is fantastically successful, and so are we.

Got to love this guy. Windows 7... To be released soon.

[mduser63]

I'm glad to see this. If it's successful in Windows, Apple will certainly do the same sort of thing in Mac OS X. Of course Apple's implementation will undoubtedly be much better than Microsoft's. If it's a flop in Windows, I'd rather it be a flop for MS than for Apple. All that said, I think multitouch in general is pretty predictable at this point. The iPhone showed that it was very much viable, and it's pretty obviously the evolution path for UI design for next few years.

[richthomas]

so they just demoed "Multi-Touch" in Windows 7 and not the "keyboard & mouse" desktop.

i thought Apple patented Multi-Touch?

[Lershac]

get the touch out in the tablets. Put out a touch tablet. If Apple doesnt do it and MS does, ugh. I want one of these. If it was available today for a reasonable premium (heck even unreasonable) I would have one.

[flopticalcube]

I don't want fingerprints on my screen.

[Lershac]

Originally Posted by richthomas

so they just demoed "Multi-Touch" in Windows 7 and not the "keyboard & mouse" desktop.

i thought Apple patented Multi-Touch?

They protected the method they devloped to implement it, not the whole idea of multi touch... that would be like patenting ... keyboards. or the stylus.

[CANEHDN]

Nothing we haven't already seen. Although that piano thing was kind of cool.

[hiimamac]

Originally Posted by mmccaskill

Except when 2010 rolls around if won't be ready, just like Vista.

I don't know about that - as a Mac user, who like/had no choice at one time but to use XP, Vista was/still is horrible. But until Apple went INTC, MACS were by far a slow dog.

Anyway, the point is, I have heard and read MSFT has always been working on a OS seperate from Vista and have been for a while. The bottom line is, Vista=software developers and if Win 7 is more consumer like, they could have a hit on their hands and whoever wins will be the one who makes it work out of the box, angle, arm fatigue, et-cetera.

Can't really say anyone is stealing either.
Dock=not Apple but some Kobulator
Widgets=always around
Spotlght=search developed by MSFT but intro'd 1st by mac.

Google Sun's Microsystem's light house? Now there is a OS that works.
Who knows, for once MSFT might have a winner this time.

[bshelly]

Great! So my big fat hands can get in the way of looking at whats on the screen. What is the big amazing draw to using your hands to manipulate what is on the screen? If it's a coffee table, well fine! But not my laptop screen. There is nothing worse that smudges on an LCD screen.

Thanks, but no thanks.

[kdum8]

although it's not groundbreaking at least it gives an indication into the direction that pc's are heading. In a few years when all notebook screens are touch-capable you'll wonder why it never happened sooner. Apple are already heading down this route so it's only a matter of time.

Roll on the future...

[Lershac]

Originally Posted by flopticalcube

I don't want fingerprints on my screen.

They have a coating material now that helps with that. You can touch with PB&J and it comes right off.

Me I see it as a lap/living room computer. Its what I use a Macbook for now. Casual browsing (I do alot of that) and if they built a low-power mode (e-ink or similar) like on the OLPC xo-1 I would use it as a reader too. Make it say a hair smaller than a sheet of paper in footprint and Iphone-like in thickness (maybe a lil thicker) with a dock I can charge it in.

[Adokimus]

Woot!!! +1 for competition. I personally can't wait for my touchscreen MBP dual-booting OS X v.10.6 and Window's 7 via bootcamp. Now I just need to invest in some stock of "screen cleaner" companies...

[EricNau]

Multi-touch seems a bit awkward on larger screens, but perhaps it will become second nature after some time. For now, I believe Apple is correct in separating the multi-touch surface from the screen.

Plus, I fail to see the benefit of multi-touch in Microsoft's example; they started with a typical organized computer screen and turned it into a jumbled mess.

Although I'll agree with others in saying that competition is always a good thing.

[ZiggyPastorius]

Originally Posted by sushi

Watched the video.

Nothing earth shattering there.

I agree. I'm going to sound so much like a fanboy here, but this is essentially all stuff Apple has been doing for a while now on the iPhone and with Multi-touch/widgets, et cetera. Look at the way the photos are all managed...you use a finger to drag it, you zoom in with an outward pinch, and you click the bottom right corner to see the back-side info:



Ah, wait, silly me, Microsoft made that...

Anyways, I'm not saying Surface isn't cool, and it's good to see Microsoft's trying to stay in the game, but first of all I don't think Microsoft is going to deliver this like previewed/promised, and second, I don't believe this is anything really innovative and new anymore. We'll see how it pans out.

[CWallace]

It makes sense for tablets and UMPCs, which Microsoft is pushing. I like the touchscreen on the Panasonic Toughbook, but that is because I hate trackpads. So it might see use in laptops. I don't see it on desktops, really.

[Animaniac]

The Microsoft implementation running on a full-fledged computer doesn't seem as responsive as the Apple implementation on the resource-strapped iPhone.

Also, I would be shocked if Jobs lets Microsoft steal his* user-interface yet again.

*Yes, I'm aware Jobs stole the ideas from Xerox PARC.

[queshy]

anyone know when/where the full video of the interview will/will be/is posted?

[Mykbibby]

Originally Posted by ZiggyPastorius

I agree. I'm going to sound so much like a fanboy here, but this is essentially all stuff Apple has been doing for a while now on the iPhone and with Multi-touch/widgets, et cetera. Look at the way the photos are all managed...you use a finger to drag it, you zoom in with an outward pinch, and you click the bottom right corner to see the back-side info:

snip

Ah, wait, silly me, Microsoft made that...

Anyways, I'm not saying Surface isn't cool, and it's good to see Microsoft's trying to stay in the game, but first of all I don't think Microsoft is going to deliver this like previewed/promised, and second, I don't believe this is anything really innovative and new anymore. We'll see how it pans out.

If it was Apple, everyone would say it was the greatest, most revolutionary development since the Macintosh...

Including me ;-)