I think of a tablet as something handheld, about the size of a piece of legal paper. What I suspect Apple will make is something bigger, flatter and more tray-like. Maybe 24". But I don't have any inside info.
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Desktop OS X Multi-Touch Framework Concept, Demo
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I think of a tablet as something handheld, about the size of a piece of legal paper. What I suspect Apple will make is something bigger, flatter and more tray-like. Maybe 24". But I don't have any inside info.
From what you describe it sounds like you are either "surfing,email or chatting" using a laptop or iPhone on the couch.
Imagine not having that big clunky keyboard and area gone. Just tap on an app and there you go!
If your chatting the multi-touch keyboard area would be larger allowing for more accurate and easier "typing". If you're video chatting via iChat there's no need for a physical keyboard.
Seems more natural to me.
Quite neat looking - seems like this tech would be especially good for parsing lots of similar data. Still, for writing you're going to want a keyboard in addition, and for most tasks I can't imagine a finger ever being more precise a pointer than the mouse.
Navigating the filesystem and using the OS X GUI would be a dream with a system like this, though.
Navigating the filesystem and using the OS X GUI would be a dream with a system like this, though.
You have got to be joking, right? There is no way on earth that tying onto a multi touch screen would be as fast or natural as typing on a conventional keyboard. And it's not just because it's a new concept and we're not used to it. Try typing with your hands at near vertical and see how easy it is. Yes, if you're the kind of person who wants to type one-fingered monosyllabic replies on a chat site, maybe it would be fun, but otherwise it's a no starter. (Think about how you'd insert the cursor into a word on screen if you wanted to correct the spelling - your finger would obscure the point at which you wanted to do the insert. That is just one of a thousand common actions that would have be solved first before a real switch from mouse to multi-touch screen functionality could be effected.)
You also completely underestimate what is involved in porting a sytem interface which has been entirely mouse and kepboard operated since its inception, into an interface which is fully-functional through touch (there seems to be an oversimplification in general here, between the multi-touch capabilities offered by a track-pad and the notion of a touch screen that would fulfill all the functions previously carried out by mouse/keyboard - the two things are very different).
Another desktop mutitouch demo that fails totally to demonstrate anything actually useful.
Also, I shudder at the thought of Flash becoming an application development framework (already happening, with Adobe's online Photoshop and word processor) - you can kiss goodbye all those years of interoperability and unified look and feel, keyboard shortcuts, cut 'n' paste, drag 'n' drop, unified spell checking, and everything else that we take for granted on Mac OS X.
I tried to test out the Flash based word processor yesterday - I got as far as the registration screen, and gave up when I realised that the scroll box that contains the Ts&Cs didn't respond to my scroll wheel, and had a non-standard scroller too. Not a good start.
I really wish Flash rolled over and died. It's an abomination. Here's hoping that Apple dusts down WebObjects and turns it into .Net-Cocoa or something. Anything to save us from a future of flash UIs....
Also, I shudder at the thought of Flash becoming an application development framework (already happening, with Adobe's online Photoshop and word processor) - you can kiss goodbye all those years of interoperability and unified look and feel, keyboard shortcuts, cut 'n' paste, drag 'n' drop, unified spell checking, and everything else that we take for granted on Mac OS X.
I tried to test out the Flash based word processor yesterday - I got as far as the registration screen, and gave up when I realised that the scroll box that contains the Ts&Cs didn't respond to my scroll wheel, and had a non-standard scroller too. Not a good start.
I really wish Flash rolled over and died. It's an abomination. Here's hoping that Apple dusts down WebObjects and turns it into .Net-Cocoa or something. Anything to save us from a future of flash UIs....
The way that I understood it is that he did it on flash only because it's faster to prototype using flash. something to show people... i doubt the final apps would be flash UIs?
Is there much advantage to MultiTouch for the average consumer?
It seems like a far more pro-app thing to me, short of little gimmicks and quirks around OS X.
It seems like a far more pro-app thing to me, short of little gimmicks and quirks around OS X.
I think it looks just like the old multi-touch demo, but with a Mac OS X dock, less multi-touch gestures and more sluggish. There wasn't even a pinch gesture in the map application.
Keep up the good work, though
Keep up the good work, though
Apple products always have been very useful especially for creative people, be it professional or consumer. And Apple will be able to implement this new technology in a stunning way, I am sure! Working with multimedia will get a whole lot easier than it is today.
It's only a year ago that Apple made their first step introducing multi-touch gestures on the iPhone. I don't remember anyone saying "what a bunch of BS" at that time.
The average consumer has simply not enough imaginativeness to to think of useful applications right now. Just wait a few years.
And until then think of this quote:
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
Part of the problem is that it wouldn't be built and designed for people that even sometimes need to type, which most people do, especially students.
I guess you could get a keyboard for those "rare" occasions, but the problem is that they're pretty much mutually exclusive. Either you've got your tablet sitting in front of you or you've got your keyboard. As has been pointed out, reaching out and interacting with a vertical screen isn't really acceptable.
How about the iMac G4 design, when you can manoeuvre the screen into the position you want?
This looks awesome, but its going to be hard to implement it in an apple-like way. I can't really see them putting out a tablet for use with a mac, maybe they'll incorporate this in the keyboard somehow?
I'd love this for logic. It would be like a kaoss pad!
I'd love this for logic. It would be like a kaoss pad!
However you swing it (he he), you've still only got one position where your wrists and fingers can be both productive and comfortable: resting almost horizontally with palms down on your work surface. Mouse, keyboard, tablet, or pad of paper, it's all the same. The tablet has to replace that spot where the mouse and keyboard would beI don't see how they can coexist efficiently.
Sorry I fail to see what's so impressive here. We've all seen it before on Microsoft Surface, and this doesn't look anywhere near as impressive or feature-packed as that.
The public beta of Flash Player 10 was just released yesterday. One thing it offers is "[e]asily transform and animate any display object through 3D space while retaining full interactivity." Now that is bad-ass.
labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/
First with what? How many Surface systems do you see out in the real world? Microsoft was not first. Neither was Apple. Apple (and some others) have been able to market their tech to the masses. In the end, that's what counts.
How many people really type? I think us touch typists are in quite a minority.
Lame reason. Who told you the screen had to be vertical? If you saw Jeff Han's presentation, the surface he used was a very low slant.
I think the iPhone UI shows how the finger position ambiguity issue can be solved pretty well. Please understand that the hurdles you describe are not insurmountable, I don't even think solving those problems are nearly as difficult as you seem to be saying.
I'm a bit tired of people noting problems as if no one has thought about them before.