Windows 7 multitouch: it's a gimmick (for now)
By Paul Miller 
posted February 5th 2009 3:37PM
posted February 5th 2009 3:37PM
It sounds like a lot, but really adds up to very little. Interactions are inconsistent from program to program, including Microsoft applications, gestures seem to work when you don't want them, and don't work when you need them, and at least 50 percent of the OS is still too small to use with touch -- making the improvements to touchability of the rest of it slightly pointless. All that said, we really like the idea of a touchscreen desktop OS, at least in theory. There are certain actions like messing with photos and casual browsing that seem to make sense for augmenting regular computer inputs with touch -- they've certainly been enhanced by multitouch trackpads of late -- but we're going to need more consistent implementations to really get into it OS-wide. Of course, this is just a Beta, things could always get better, and third party support will, like with most things, make or break it. We'll hope for the best, but we're not tossing our keyboard and mouse just yet. There are about 8 minutes of semi-frustrating interaction below.
All testing was done with an HP TouchSmart PC running a beta OS and beta multitouch drivers, and isn't an indication of the final experience.
Further reading:
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Windows 7 SKUs announced: your worst nightmare has come to pass It's worse than you could have possibly imagined. |
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Microsoft extends Windows 7 beta downloads to February 10 Good news for those of you who haven't yet snagged a copy of the Windows 7 beta -- Microsoft's decided to extend the beta download period to February 10th. |
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Windows 7 Beta in-depth impressions We finally gathered together all our thoughts and impressions of the OS into one meaty pile of words and screencaps. |
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Windows 7 install roundup After resting up and settling into our post-CES golden desk chairs, team Engadget got busy at installing Windows 7 on pretty much anything they could find. |
Get tight and deliver the promised features like WinFS rather than focusing on fancy sugar coating like multi-touch..
Let's start saying that I'm moved to apple 3 years ago (imac 24, mac book )
I've tried W7 on the same machine and I have to say it is pretty usable ! XP==W7>>>>>>>Vista
If you start customizing the gestures you can cover the whole OS experience with the touch (really limited for the moment: gestures are not only directional moves, but for example a close loop or a cross and all the simple shapes u can think of).
Try to set the windows 3d exposè (check for the keyboard shortcut, you can set any of it as a gesture) to one of the gestures (down right diagonal ) and close window (up right diagonal) and you can effectively navigate trough you applications.
Gesture contextual reference will help to obtain lower percentage of miss-interpreted inputs (quite high in the video ). Expose for example is right down as if you would drag down the 3d cascade windows with your finger, and then you can simply toggle between windows with right-left flick.
Up right to close the window resulted pretty effective as well : you aim at the right up corner of the windows but you don't want to always move your arm to the top of the screen so a simple flick in that direction will help you out to obtain the same result.
A daily use of the touch screen increases the effort quite a lot (mouse = harm at rest on the desk and small wrist movements VS touch = harm movements) that's way gestures result quite important (being position independent are accomplished by the wrist). Real gestures have to be implemented before delivering the OS.
Another issue to be solved is the sensitivity with respect to the window items. In the video it is clear that the guy has quite some troubles selecting the address bar and the windows bounds(to resize). The tolerance to activate these salient items should be increased for the touch input.
As beta tester I hope some of these issues will be solved but .....
The final judgment about W7 is extra positive. They improved quite a lot by doing a step backward .... but keeping the nice aero-interface (the task bar preview is useful for crowded desktop like mine).
Definitely a must have for the geeks owning a brand new multitouch device.
Good job Microsoft let's go on that path ....
This makes little to no sense on a desktop PC (in their current form factor at least). Sure, it's neat to select basic stuff, using it like a POS terminal, but there is little real world desktop use for this on a vertical screen. The only way multi-touch makes sense is on a horizontal surface. Apple has it right in this respect, putting the multi-touch gestures on the trackpad. Like usual, MS wants to "me too" it, without thinking of the real world usability and implications of their technology.... and like usual, Apple is slowly, deliberately introducing the technology into their consumer products as they work out the best usages of it.
The OS its not just for desktops though.....
Once you have multi-touch, it's VERY EASY to implement dual mice support. And that would work WONDERS for games, it'd be also very cool for many applications (in the same way multi-touch is, but much cleaner). I'm actually more excited by dual mice capability that I hope is to come right after this "let's smudge our screens with greasy fingers" propaganda dies.
maybe his monitor is very insensitive... I doubt there are any monitors right now capable of this type of technology hes really looking for... REALLY doubt its a big Iphone screen :P
The interaction totally sucks. Its far from anything that can be called intutive.
DON'T TOUCH ME!!!!! D-:
Firefox already has an extension called "Grab and drag" which works great with touch screen computers. I'm using it right now on Vista. I've been using it for the last 18 months.
I love how websites keep reviewing these "new features" of Windows 7 when they don't even realize they're all in Vista already. I mean showing off the keyboard and writing, and IE pages scrolling, etc. all that stuff is on my Vista Tablet PC. None of that is new. You can do multi-touch in Vista as well assuming you have a multi-touch tablet.
I think Windows 7 is horrible. The new taskbar is unusable. It forces you to use taskbar grouping which I always turn off, you can't tell which programs you have open anymore (worse than Mac OS), they don't use words anymore in the taskbar, they don't let you use the classic start menu anymore, gadgets stop functioning when you turn off UAC (which inexcusably still exists). Windows 7 is a huge step backwards from Vista. They take away features and people cheer it on for features that Vista already had? Apple successfully convinced everyone that Vista was this horrible PoS with their huge marketing campaign and now just because Microsoft calls Vista something new it's great? I guess the Mojave experiment was right.
"The new taskbar is unusable. It forces you to use taskbar grouping which I always turn off"
Actually grouping can be turned off, just like it could be in XP and Vista.
"you can't tell which programs you have open anymore (worse than Mac OS)"
Open programs are surrounded by a box on the taskbar. So yes you can.
"they don't use words anymore in the taskbar"
When you turn off grouping, you can also re-enable text.
"they don't let you use the classic start menu anymore"
Who seriously would want to anymore?
I do agree they shouldn't be removing features though. The parental controls are gone.
This is a great video - if you want to listen to someone breathing heavily through their mouth.
Multi-Touch seemed to work well for all the computer displays on the ships of the Star Fleet and their enemies.
Maybe what it will take is a complete elimination of keyboards and mice and have only touch + voice input.
Scotty: "Computer?..."
Terry Thomas
President
PC Tech
Atlanta, Georgia USA
Once again, Microsoft wastes no time at all churning out a gimmick of Apple's latest renovations. They even plans to open name-brand stores. I guess it'll consist of Zunes and Xbox's?
I think is amazing. I have an HP TouchSmart PC, that I got since my last desktop was 5 years old. I also have an Apple Touch.
It's great, no matter things still need improvements. I'm so used to the keyboard and mouse, that I don't care if things are still in its early stage.
Wow, windows 7 sucks because with the resolution of 1280x800 pixels or more at about 72 DPI your big fingers can't click that red X on the window corner ......
MAYBE CHANGE DPI SETTINGS ??
dont the win media center ui looks too much to the xcross bar, does it?