Multi-Touch comes to Windows

Microsoft's had another idea all by itself… It's called Multi-Touch and will be coming to PCs in the next version of Windows. You can watch a video of it in action on the Windows Vista Team Blog.

I must admit, it looks a bit familiar. I get the feeling I've seen it somewhere before.

You can take a look at Microsoft's stunning piece of original thinking here.

Interestingly, Steve Jobs said that Multi-Touch made sense for the iPhone, but not so much for the iMac. It'll be good to see just how well it works on a desktop PC; and if Apple follows suit and brings Multi-Touch to the Mac after all.

• Email
• Print
• Permalink
• Contact Us

• RSS
• Digg
• Tweet

Email A Friend

Email this article to a friend or colleague:

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story, and in case of transmission error. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.

Permalink This Article

This articles permalink is:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=382&blogid=8

Comments received

ajpl said on Wednesday, 28 May 2008

MIcrosoft have been playing with this for a while and well before the iPhone was invented. As have numerous other people. The gestures used on the new laptops are from Fingerworks a company Apple aquired recently. The 'futuristic' interface in Minority report was based on current projects and have you not heard of Jeff Han or MS Surface, whose origins date back to 2001? And it looks like Multi Touch comes directly from Surface and not the iPhone.
Innacuratley patronising comments like this and on far too many Mac sites do, make me ashamed to admit I own one.

MarkHattersley said on Thursday, 29 May 2008

I disagree. Almost a year after Apple launches the iPhone (and 18 months after it was first demonstrated) Microsoft demos its new touch screen technology and calls it "Multi-Touch".

I am aware of Jeff Han and the MS Surface, and don't for a minute think that Apple invented the touch-screen. Or even the concept of using multiple input points to control a screen.

But they were the first to stand up and say, here's a new product and we're calling it "Multi-Touch".

If Microsoft wants to avoid comments like this it should avoid using the same terminology as its rivals.

Having said that: I still think it'll be interesting to see how well it works on a desktop PC.

nads said on Thursday, 29 May 2008

I don't think it will work on a desktop pc. Unless we radically change the 'desktop' pc form: have you ever tried pointing at your upright screen for any lenght of time? Arm ache sets in very fast, so the screen has to come down, closer to us, which impacts on the quality of the visuals, eye health etc.

Until these issues are sorted, Apple won't release anything.

gregorsamsa said on Saturday, 31 May 2008

Agree with nads. This technology will have many good uses in day-to-day life, but general desktop/laptop computing won't be one of them.