Microsoft Makes Multi-Touch Interfaces Look Boring
May 28th, 2008 | By James Lewin | Category: General
Microsoft today released a video, above, showcasing multi-touch apps developed for future versions of Windows.
According to Microsoft:
Touch is quickly becoming a common way of directly interacting with software and devices. Touch-enabled surfaces are popping up everywhere including laptop touch pads, cell phones, remote controls, GPS devices, and more. What becomes even more compelling is when this experience is delivered to the PC -on a wide variety of Windows notebooks, in all-in-one PC’s, as well as in external monitors. In working with our broad ecosystem of hardware and software manufactures, we’re excited to be showing some of the great work and investments we are working on in Windows 7.
While multi-touch interfaces, like the iPhone interface, are sure to play an important part in future computer interfaces, Microsoft seems to be enamored of the technology, instead of what you an do with it. The video manages to suck the “wow” out of multi-touch technology.
Can multi-touch on Windows make interacting with the Internet better, make content creation more fun or even just be cool for gaming? It looks like Microsoft is waiting for developers – or Apple – to lead the way on this.
Multi-touch is sure to be big in retail, and maybe for pad-style computers, but it doesn’t help you surf the web or read email, or really anything that you use a computer for day in, day out.
I kinda feel like Microsoft is using multi-touch to change the subject away from Vista – which everybody thought was a dud.
[…] to begin with (Pirates of Silicon Valley anyone???). Anyways, I found some like-minded quotes: Microsoft Makes Multi-Touch Interfaces Look Boring While multi-touch interfaces, like the iPhone interface, are sure to play an important part in […]
Is it just me or is this Apples multi-touch but in a non-working version….hear me out…Sure I want multi-touch but I dont want apps or pictures or anything to start randomly rotating when I try and move them around the screen, there needs to be a level of control, that this doesnt have. i.e. A laptop will in general be used a certain way up, like an iPhone, so the applets need to have a certain “gravity” to keep them upright. This is a work in progress but really, you should keep it to yourselves until it works thought you were learning lessons from Vista not making the same mistakes all over again. Microsoft, wowed us in the 80’s and 90’s but the 00’s are just not their decade!
Steve – it is a work in progress – but it also sort of looks half-baked, when you’re used to the fantastic multi-touch interface of the iPhone. They are managing to make multi-touch look boring.