MultiTouch in Windows 7
(Edit: A technical + visual description of multi-touch in windows 7 awaits right after this list – So you can just skip my rant) Beyond a shadow of a doubt, multi-touch is the one Windows 7 Feature that I’m really dying to get my hands on. After thinking about it, I realized why that is -
- We as humans are inclined towards particular senses – some people love ’seeing’, some people love to ‘feel’ and ‘touch’, others love music and sounds. So far, on computers, we have been restricted to sight and, to a limited extent, sound. I’d say computers do a good job on the visual aspect, and a so-so job on the auditory aspect.
- Touch introduces a whole new dimension. In terms of Human-Computer Interaction it’s literally going from two dimensions to three. It’s the difference between being able to see and talk to someone Versus actually being able to reach out and touch them.
- Edit: I just realized that a whole different dimension that MT* opens up is multiple people interfacing with a PC at the same time.
The signs are that Multi-Touch in Windows is going to have a lot for people who like to touch and feel things. I’ve gathered together all the information that’s available and some of the best videos.
Looking Back to understand Windows 7 MultiTouch.
Its useful to look at the Microsoft Surface Table product, to get an idea of the origins of multitouch in 7 (straight from wikipedia) -
In 2001 Steve Bathiche and Andy Wilson of Microsoft began work on an idea for an interactive table that mixes both physical and virtual worlds … In 2007 Microsoft introduced Microsoft Surface … a computer embedded in a table with a large, flat, touch-responsive display on the top. The table uses small cameras (as opposed to finger pressure or heat) that enable it to react to the touch of any object. The preliminary launch was on April 17, 2008, when Surface became available for customer use in AT&T stores. The price ranges between $5,000 and $10,000.
An easy way to understand where Windows 7’s multi-touch originated from is to take a look at this Microsoft Surface video –
Multi-Touch in Windows 7
Microsoft has ‘borrowed’ multitouch from Surface and made it one of the star features of Windows 7. Here’s an overall overview of multitouch in W7 (it’s from the PDC 2008 demo) –
Here are some examples of what you can do with specific features and multitouch in Windows 7 -
- Photos App with MultiTouch – This video just blows my mind – it’s visually and functionally so much better than what I’m used to (i just spent an hour going through my old photos). Windows 7 is going to make a lot of people very happy.
- Maps with Multi Touch in Win 7 – If you’ve used Google Earth or Live Earth, or even normal yahoo maps, you know how much of a pain using the mouse to change the view, resize etc. can be. With multi-touch all of this control is literally at your fingertips.
- Paint – You can use multiple fingers to paint – all ten fingers at the same time if you want. This functionality is called ‘Touchable’. And it also means that multiple people can collaborate on paintings.
- I’m going to add more comprehensive overviews for other features – At the moment you can use touch to scroll through documents, there’s a piano that you can play with your fingers, and there’s an on-screen keyboard you can bring up and use.
I’ve just downloaded a build of Windows 7 and this Friday I’m going to try to install it and will then update you on other cool Windows 7 stuff I find.
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Filed under: Multi Touch