Windows Goes Multi-Touch

[MacFly123]

I really am not counting on Microsoft to implement Multi-Touch in a good way. Half the things they showed in that video were slower and less efficient that with a traditional mouse and keyboard. Not to mention it will almost for sure be delayed and very bugy when it comes out. Not to mention actual consistent compatibility with their countless hardware vendors to make it all come together and work lol.

Now Apple has already introduced Multi-Touch very successfully and has been training and easing people into it for over a year now. I definitely trust that Apple will implement it in a way that actually IS more efficient and sensible. They also will have a solid release and seamless integration with their hardware.

LOLOL it is seriously sad to think that people are already avoiding Vista and they will avoid Windows 7 just the same because it is an even more drastic change and unwanted adaptation for people. Think about it, we are literally going to be seeing people running Windows XP on their computers in the year 2010 and later LOLOLOL so sad...... so sad!

 

[G58]

And you like touching your screen?

Mine is already dirty enough without me putting my fingers all over it.

I'm ready to do 15 to life if anyone so much as thinks about touching my screen. It's a disgusting habit. It's for kids and retards. It really won't take off.

Trust me. This isn't one of those things we didn't know we wanted.

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

 

[wirelessmac]

>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.

Does MS sell PCs? I thought they sold software?

 

[junkmailbonzai]

I hate to repeat what has already been said but it is true, just not impressive!

Good luck making much money with that M$.

 

[engles]

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

Including me ;-)

Thats a stupid argument because Apple would be copying itself and implementing something that they have already created with the iphone. we all know that Apple will introduce a touch interface on its computers... the operating system for multi-touch is already available... OSX supports multi-touch. they just need to do the hardware end and create the applications that could really benefit from it.

 

[powderblue17]

Microsoft needs to wake up and realize that multi-touch is not suited for a desktop or laptop because the ergonomics just don't work. It's the same reason why the tablet has been a failure and why I don't think Apple will release one unless it's just a slightly bigger version of the iPhone that can still be held in one hand. Who is gonna work on a computer when their arms will need to be floating in the air all the time except for gadget geeks? The problem for Microsoft is that while multi-touch makes sense for Surface it's only a niche product while the iphone is a mass market product so they are trying to force multi-touch onto PC's where it doesn't belong. Apple realizes this and that's why they made a touchpad that can do multi-touch as the ergonomics of that implementation actually make sense.

 

[shakenmartini]

Multitouch screens are interesting, but its going no where for the average consumer/business owner.

What I am surprised MS is not doing is focusing on workflow. How can they tweak their OS to make business more productive? They completely ignore the subtle tweaks to their interface they could be making to make windows more productive for their huge market share in business.

On the other hand you see the roots of NeXT (efficient work flow) continually improved in Mac OS. Are spaces or Expose revolutionary features? No. However, Apple is continually looking at technologies out there that can be added to improve work flow. This is important not only to your home user, but to someone who has to get work done on a computer. The less time fiddling around, is time better spent on other tasks.

If you were at all involved in the Longhorn/Vista Beta process then you know how disappointing the result is. If this is Windows 7, then it seems to be following in the path of Longhorn. Lots of ephemeral focus on inconsequential features.

 

[AppleMojo]

Cut, Print, Ga...errr..."alternative lifestyle..."....yeah, this is pretty dumb. But lest we forget how many of us Mac enthusiasts were salivating over multi-touch on the Mac? This video just proves my point of how clunky and useless this "technology" is.

I agree totally. Last week I picked up a 20" Wacom Cintiq (Pen Display) and although it is wonderful to use with the pen, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to target and use OS / App features with my finger(s).

I imagine there are of course applications in which full screen or large scale multi-touch is welcomed, but for the standard PC/Mac user in your home or office, it just doesn't seem useful.

I am currently sitting about 3 1/2 feet from nose to screen in a comfortable position. I don't want to hunch over my desk to use standard OS features, like I do with the Cintiq in specific apps.

 

[GSV]

We'll sell 270m PCs a year, and Apple will sell 10m

This is like Ballmer's comment from Jan. 07 when he said something like "we've sold millions and millions of phones, Apple has sold zero." It's kind of insulting to the OEMs if you think about it, he's taking credit for their sales.

 

[DMann]

The difference is, no Mac has multitouch on the display yet.

Thank god:

1) smudge-marks on matte surface (yuck)

2) Arm fatigue

3) Great for OS X Tablet (WWDC perhaps?)

OS X has already been demoed doing this - MS continues to lag behind.

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?

Pure MS logic

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

Please, no additional layering, especially on a matte screen.

Begun the Touch Wars have between Microsoft and Apple.

And Apple leads the way.

Let's disregard for a moment any real implementation will happen YEARS after the Apple implementation AND be inferior on release.

Let's disregard for a moment Microsoft is a "copy machine" with a scratched drum.

Let's disregard Microsoft has no "vision thing" overseeing the implementation of the technology.

That said.

Microsoft got its start marketing on an IBM text based OS that was forsaked by them and overtly copied by their EMPLOYEE Bill Gates. No conflict of interest there ?!!?

Rocketman

Bravo, well stated.

 

[G58]

Okay, let's just deal with why Apple deployed the multi touch screen, and why any manufacturer SHOULD BE doing it: to save space. Right?

On a handheld device this is logical, imperative even. But on a desktop or laptop? No. It's just stupid. And anyway, there are already devices out there for special purposes that have touch screens. Where they're needed, in shopping malls for instance, it's a great idea. But not on personal computers.

This is just dumb. No-one wants it. No-one needs it.

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.

 

[G58]

Quite!

This is the company that has never innovated. Never got anything right. Why does anyone think that just because they pretend this is new, that people will buy it?

To be ahead of the game you have to be right. M$ have never been right.

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...

 

[DMann]

when will microsoft stop copying?......

This is their only option.

Multitouch screens are interesting, but its going no where for the average consumer/business owner.

What I am surprised MS is not doing is focusing on workflow. How can they tweak their OS to make business more productive? They completely ignore the subtle tweaks to their interface they could be making to make windows more productive for their huge market share in business. Lots of ephemeral focus on inconsequential features.

To focus on workflow would require innovation. I truly enjoyed the Longhorn demoes back in 2003 with paper jiggling on the screen, and vidoes being played in a kaleidoscopic formation - trivial to the extreme.

Good luck making much money with that M$.

If the hundreds of dollars MS loses with each Xbox they sell is any indication........

 

[shakenmartini]

Okay, let's just deal with why Apple deployed the multi touch screen, and why any manufacturer SHOULD BE doing it: to save space. Right?

The funny thing about this whole multi-touch on Win 7 is that Apple nailed multi-touch on laptops. In the TRACKPAD. I have no interest in touching the screen, but add a few gestures to the trackpad, genius.

 

[oyebto]

lets just wait for the beta to be out and den decide if its significantly better. but ms loves delays lol

 

[LizKat]

And you like touching your screen?

Mine is already dirty enough without me putting my fingers all over it.

I'm ready to do 15 to life if anyone so much as thinks about touching my screen. It's a disgusting habit. It's for kids and retards. It really won't take off.

Trust me. This isn't one of those things we didn't know we wanted.

Uh, we haven't seen exactly what Apple thinks some of us might want yet. So the jury is necessarily still out, in my book. All i know for sure are that I love two-finger scrolling on a trackpad and I love using iPhone's software buttons and virtual keyboards. Neither of those did I have on a wishlist when Apple rolled them out. I will be happy to see what Apple brings next. It's like being on a road that's still under construction. Don't have to stay on it, of course, but it's been an entertaining trip so far!

 

[Mykbibby]

From The Interview!!!

Walt asks Ballmer if he’s worried about the next iteration of Mac OS X, which will likely be released before Windows 7. Is there a risk that the work you’re doing now with multi-touch will look dated when Apple releases its next OS?
Ballmer says he’s confident Microsoft will have fantastic Windows 7 PCs, regardless of what Apple’s got on the market. “There’s a lot in Windows 7, and our goal is to produce fantastic PCs with our hardware partners.
Walt presses him, noting Apple’s recent growth in the PC market.
Ballmer notes the difference in scale between the two companies: “We sell 270 millions PCs a year, and Apple sells 10 million. They’re fantastically successful, and so are we.”
Walt hits on Windows quality issue, noting that he’s seen old Macs running significantly faster than new Vista machines.
Ballmer admits there’s room for improvement: Steve Jobs has a great business, he says. His model works well. But so does ours. 10 million people like his model. 290 million like ours.
Kara asks Gates how it feels to have Microsoft defined by Apple via its “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” campaign.
Gates clearly isn’t happy with that question. Dodges. Ballmer jumps in. Hits that 290 million metric again. “Every share point Apple picks up is a share point we don’t like. But we like selling 290 million units.
Walt’s not letting him off that easy : “C’mon, you CAN’T be happy with the way this Vista thing has gone.”
Ballmer: “What’s an appropriate response to that question?” Gates bristles: “You’re repeating yourself,” he says, alluding to the fact that the question has been asked already.


This is straight from the interview!

 

[caliguy]

I'm betting Apple has had a team working on a touch tablet computer/OSX for a long, long time. These cool gadgets by Microsoft that we're seeing now Apple has probably been innovating and enhancing as well, but they've just been kept under wraps.

Remember when Jobs said when the PPC to Intel switch was announced that Apple had been creating Intel versions of Mac OS X for years? The same is probably true for fully touch-capable operating systems.

 

[Mykbibby]

Imagine if Apple announced system wide multitouch at WWDC for the next version of OS X. That would sure piss off the Windows 7 team!!!

 

[morphineseason]

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

Including me ;-)

My thoughts exactly. If this was about Steve Jobs demoing a new multi-touch Mac, everyone would be ooing and ahhing over it, but since it's Microsoft, everyone comes out in true fanboi form. I have no doubt that Apple has something up their sleeve that will top this by a landslide, but to sit around and act like all of a sudden none of us are interested in having multi-touch display & operating system built into our desktop/laptop computers is just naive. Heck, I remember when there was a thread going on here not to long ago with everyone posting mockups of what a multi-touch iMac might look like.

 

[G58]

Thanks for that Mykbibby. When I clicked the link, all I got was:
___________________________________________________
Your browser or operating system is not supported
If you would like to continue anyway, click the button below.
Continue to MSN Video

We recommend the following browsers:
Internet Explorer 6 or 7 and FireFox 2.x on Windows XP SP2
Internet Explorer 7 and FireFox 2.x on Windows Vista
FireFox 2.x on Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger
___________________________________________________

I'm using Safari on a MacBook Pro running 10.4.11.

Sure, I could launch Firefox and copy paste the url, but really, these two clowns have had their day. They aren't funny anymore. Nothing they say is credible. I've seen and heard it all before.

I'd rather watch Walt take his afternoon nap.

But here's the latest news from England:

It's raining heavily outside, and the wind is blowing from the south west! <ironic smiley>

Walt asks Ballmer if he’s worried about the next iteration of Mac OS X, which will likely be released before Windows 7. Is there a risk that the work you’re doing now with multi-touch will look dated when Apple releases its next OS?
Ballmer says he’s confident Microsoft will have fantastic Windows 7 PCs, regardless of what Apple’s got on the market. “There’s a lot in Windows 7, and our goal is to produce fantastic PCs with our hardware partners.
Walt presses him, noting Apple’s recent growth in the PC market.
Ballmer notes the difference in scale between the two companies: “We sell 270 millions PCs a year, and Apple sells 10 million. They’re fantastically successful, and so are we.”
Walt hits on Windows quality issue, noting that he’s seen old Macs running significantly faster than new Vista machines.
Ballmer admits there’s room for improvement: Steve Jobs has a great business, he says. His model works well. But so does ours. 10 million people like his model. 290 million like ours.
Kara asks Gates how it feels to have Microsoft defined by Apple via its “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” campaign.
Gates clearly isn’t happy with that question. Dodges. Ballmer jumps in. Hits that 290 million metric again. “Every share point Apple picks up is a share point we don’t like. But we like selling 290 million units.
Walt’s not letting him off that easy : “C’mon, you CAN’T be happy with the way this Vista thing has gone.”
Ballmer: “What’s an appropriate response to that question?” Gates bristles: “You’re repeating yourself,” he says, alluding to the fact that the question has been asked already.


This is straight from the interview!

 

[puckhead193]

seems like MS is following apple yet again on the "modern mouse"
At times it would be simple to just point but i don't see this just for zooming in photos...

 

[thirdwaver]

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

For the record, I asked Steve Wozniak whether Apple stole the idea from Xerox Parc. He told me that Apple gave Xerox stock options in the company in return for the idea. So you can say it was a "steal" based upon it's success in comparison to what the options were worth, but by definition that is not stolen. Xerox sold it for what they wanted for it.

 

[Syrus28]

Quite!

This is the company that has never innovated. Never got anything right. Why does anyone think that just because they pretend this is new, that people will buy it?

To be ahead of the game you have to be right. M$ have never been right.

Im glad you think Microsoft, the biggest tech company in existence, has never got anything right. How about Windows being the first major OS to add preemptive multitasking and memory protection, or a standard harware architecture that allows games to run without assigning IRQs. Apple didn't have any of these things until OSX, except OpenGL, which only existed as an alternative to DirectX, i.e. a Microsoft product.

If the hundreds of dollars MS loses with each Xbox they sell is any indication........

Umm... Its pretty common knowledge that both the PS3 and 360 are sold at an initial loss, which is made up in software/peripheral sales, and XBL subscriptions. This is not a Microsoft only thing my friend.

 

[planetgenova]

A couple more years until Microsoft releases a giant iPhone. *yawn* There really isn't anything Windows 7 does that my iPhone can't do right now.