Touchscreens have certainly become more common on mobile phones since Apple launched the iPhone. But now manufacturers of desktop PCs and laptops are heavily promoting the technology, in preparation for Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 OS, which features touch capabilities. However, we've got some key concerns about the capability and its usefulness.
We look at Microsoft's hyped touch facility in the OS
Whereas Apple quietly added touch to Mac OS X Leopard a couple years back, Microsoft has hyped its Microsoft Surface technology for more than a year. Beneath this hype has been the suggestion that, with Windows 7, a touch revolution is brewing.
Or maybe not. Two years of avid iPod touch use has got me excited about the idea of touch UIs, so I was eager to try out the vaunted touch technology in Windows 7.
My MacBook Pro has touch capabilities in its trackpad, but I usually run the laptop closed when working at my desk, so its touch capabilities haven't been regularly accessible. The new breed of all-in-one PCs with touch-sensitive screens from Dell and HP promised to change the equation and make touch on the PC as cool and functional as touch on an iPhone.
Well, that was the theory. The truth has been a bitter disappointment. In both Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the touch experience has been underwhelming.
Limited deployment is partly to blame, as - despite marketing hype - neither Apple nor Microsoft is making a serious effort to touchify their OSes. For Microsoft, touch seems to be a technology crush it won't admit it's fallen out of love with; for Apple, touch seems to be a key part of its non-PC strategy. (Neither Apple nor Microsoft will talk to us about touch technology.)
Of course, Microsoft and Apple may have reason for not getting serious about touch. After all, outside of the obvious use in self-contained kiosk environments, does touch really make sense on a PC?
My early experience suggests it does not.
On the following pages I have detailed tthe key concerns that make PC touch useless for most people, and that will continue to plague any notion of a 'touch revolution' on the desktop PC for years to come.
See all laptop reviews
NEXT PAGE: The first of the key concerns
- We look at Microsoft's heavily hyped touch capability in the OS
- The first of the key concerns
- UIs aren't finger-friendly
- Gesture-based computing needs a better surface
- Why touch remains a tantalising prospect
Comments
Our David said: Finger-marks are not only greasy - attracting dust but are also slightly acidic and if left will cause some degree of degradation of the screen surface Time to buy shares in surgical gloves
bob said: Have to say I agree with the touching aspect of this greasy fingermarks nothing worse especially if like me you use applications like photoshop and you need to zoom in to do a repair and then realise that you need to scrub the screen just to be able to see what it is you want to do
jtt said: My screen has lots of finger-marks on it and its not a touch screen I never notice them except when someone points them out to and even then they dont bother me I probably clean the screen every one or two years Objecting to finger marks sounds a bit obsessive to me
David Staples said: Good point Skeletal My laptop screen is nice and pristine at the moment Id hate to see my greasy fingermarks all over it day in day out
Skeletal said: One thing I rarely see mentioned with regard to touch screens finger marks I HATE anyone touching my laptop screen as I have to spend hours removing the mark Thus in addition to the excellent points raised in the article how do you operate a touch screen without touching it