Multi-Touch on a PC: Love It , Hate It, or Clueless About It
June 2nd, 2008 | by Rob Enderle
I often get a kick out of the fact that people repeat the same mistakes over and over again. When Xerox executives first saw a Graphical UI and a mouse they thought it was a toy that no one would want. Yet today Microsoft and Apple are household names and besides, when was the last time you saw the Xerox brand on anything? When Windows came out, folks just couldn’t see the advantage of moving away from the perfectly good command line interface and that no one would ever want this thing, now 100s of millions of copies later, Windows (love it or hate it) is the current dominant product and the MacOS, which sports a similar Xerox based interface, is the fastest growing.
And then there was Microsoft Bob which many thought no one in their right mind would ever want, and, well, in that case they were right; though I still think the idea had merit, it was just decades ahead of where technology needed to be to make the result acceptable. In the end, Bob was a bridge too far, but there is a good chance Bob 2 is coming and this time it may stick. We’ll chat about that when this product, which isn’t from Microsoft, gets a little closer to reality.
For now Microsoft just announced the new user interface for Windows 7 and it is multi-touch. My expectation is that Apple will have something on the market around the same time given their success with the iPhone, but I’m particularly struck by the number of Apple fans that seem to think the idea is stupid. Granted many of these same fans thought Apple moving-to-Intel was stupid and we know how that turned out.
Given I’ve been using the HP TouchSmart desktop and their somewhat similar touch-screen laptop for awhile now I think I can say that, for some things, Multi-Touch (and touch in general) will be very attractive.
The Advantages of Touch
Where touch works best is when you are manipulating objects or navigating through items. As we have seen with the iPhone, making pictures larger, scanning through them, and even navigating the web is actually kind of fun, and honestly more intuitive with Touch. If we weren’t already used to using a mouse and the fact that touch-screens have traditionally been too expensive and suffered in terms of brightness and resolution, historically we’d likely all have touch-screens today.
What I’ve found by using these two products is that touch can be addictive much like it has been on the iPhone. The one area that I discovered I didn’t anticipate was with the HP Touch Screen tablet. I could spin the screen around and position it to more comfortably to watch a movie (without worrying that the guy in front of me would recline and snap my screen in half) and then navigate through the movie with my finger rather than using the touchpad.
HP created a special user interface for the TouchSmart and we used it as a living room PC where my wife or I could just walk up and touch the screen to look at calendar events or quickly check the web. Playing a casual game like solitaire was actually a bit more fun and I’ve been told that strategy games are particularly suited to a touch screen but never tried that myself.
Expected Technology Advances
Anything having to do with picture creation or editing also works vastly better with touch and I recently attended an event showcasing recent technologies out of Microsoft Labs and two address this change. The first was a drawing tool specifically designed for touch that was a lot more fun to use than any similar tool I’ve ever played with on a touch-screen, suggesting that, to work, much like it was with Windows or the Mac many applications will need to be developed with this in mind.
In addition, they showcased LaserTouch which was an interesting and inexpensive touch sensing technology that appeared to be easy to install on walls (to be used with projectors) and existing monitors (so you wouldn’t have to buy a new one). It seemed to work as well as any of the touch screen products I’ve ever used and, while they didn’t tell me the expected price, it didn’t look to have a bill of material cost that exceeded $25 suggesting it could be sold for well under $100 perhaps even under $50.
I do think, however, that touch-screens lend themselves to devices that come with screens like the TouchSmart, iMac, iPhone, and other integrated display products and that this technology could drive much greater interest in future All-In-One products.
Wait and See?
Because of the fact people just don’t like change but have been able to move to mice and graphical user interfaces, we’ll have to see if these new multi-touch desktop products are truly compelling or not. My own experience with the early and limited HP offering suggests there is a good chance people will like this interface and if it can be cheaply applied to existing technology it will be adopted much more quickly. We’ll see but having played with the iPhone and with the Microsoft Surface product I can honestly say I like multi-touch and can’t wait to get it on a PC.
I’m particularly looking forward to watching Apple fans flip flop on this as they move from thinking about the possibility of Microsoft doing this first to the very real probability that Apple will (they did hire an expert in this some time ago). That’s what makes this market fun to watch and clearly will make 2009 worth looking forward to. Until then check out this video of a possible multi-touch Mac one more time and tell me honestly, wouldn’t you just love to have it?
Post Your Comment...Comments
James on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 5:55 PM:
That iMac Touchscreen video you linked to is pretty cool. I can definately see Apple trying to do this. A system like this would be good if it was a living room PC used to check weather, store music etc.
Rob Enderle on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 6:06 PM:
It kind of depends how you use the screen. For some things it is handy like navigating through pictures or a web site. But are so well trained to use a mouse and clearly tablet PCs could have done better, I think it will depend on the applications. For instance actually drawing with a mouse or digitizer isn't natural for me and actually working on the screen is much easier.
What makes the LaserTouch thing new is it is an inexpensive addition to an existing monitor or could be added to production screen for a trivial amount at least partially getting around the cost problem with tablets and touch screens.
We all thought touch screen phones were worthless until the iPhone. But I do agree that, thanks to our affinity for the mouse, getting people to acutally use the screen will be difficult and to your point, even on the TouchSmart I use the mouse more often than not.
Harry on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 PM:
Multitouch will definitely be a hit.
It will replace more then 50% of the current single touch screens. Because of this new technology people start the rethink the environments they can use touch screens in, even if single touch screens would have been suffice, people see now opportunity because it is multitouch. But like said, every application has it's purpose. Multitouch will not be suitable for every application, but it will definitely have a big impact.
hardmanb on Jun 3rd, 2008 at 8:22 AM:
Rob, I don't know if your musings or mine see clearly. Multitouch involves enjoyment of the user and intuitive use. Is it true improvement, more efficient leading to increased productivity, or a pleasing toy-like effect?
Will it catch on, much less dominate in the future? One thing is clear...the question will not be decided by us...but by the kids.
Ian Bell on Jun 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 AM:
Rob,
A touch-screen on a phone is one thing, but on a desktop PC I just do not see it taking off. In fact, Tablet PC's haven't really taken off much either. Does Dell or Sony even sell them??
Like hardmanb said, it will be determined by the kids, not us. Personally, until I see touch-screen friendly websites or applications, I will remain a skeptic. At some point you will need a 30-inch monitor just to browse the web using a touch-screen lol.
Jason Howard on Jun 3rd, 2008 at 8:46 AM:
Touch screens will take off when you can use them as the whole interface, just like some of the sci-fi movies like Minority Report.
Lynn Marentette on Jun 3rd, 2008 at 3:16 PM:
I think multi-touch applications would work well on mid-size displays mounted on a flexible form that can adjust horizontally, like a table, vertically, like a flat-screen TV, and anywhere in between, like an adjustable drafting table.
For an HCI project, I worked on a touch-screen prototype to support collaboration between two or more people for travel planning, using photo-overlays on Google Earth that linked to videoclips of various vacation spots. It was fun to play with, and travel agents liked it, too. We used a single-touch display, since we didn't have access to a multi-touch display at the time. (This was before Microsoft shared the Surface with the world.)
A flexible "surface" would work in classroom, museums, tourist information centers, libraries, convention centers, malls, etc. Displays can be controlled by hand-held devices, like PDA's, and of course, Wii Motes (if you've seen Johnny Chung Lee's videos, you'll know what I'm talking about!).
I'm not a young kid, and I want my multitouch!
Rob Enderle on Jun 4th, 2008 at 10:39 AM:
It is one of those things you do have to play with for awhile before you see the benefits and it will appeal, initiall, to those of us there are a bit more visually creative.
I used an early version of multi-touch years ago in a surface like device and it helped a great deal in the way physical objects could be defined and designed.
It clearly has a "wow" factor if done right as Apple continues to showcase. Though I wonder about the "kids" comment as I can see people who are not currently comfortable with a mouse finding a multi-touch screen less intimidating.
The problem with the table computer is you can't live on touch becasue as soon as you get back to the office you probably use a regular monitor and a mouse so most of us that had tablets didn't develop the skill set. If they can, and if is a big word, get touch to work on existing monitors this could go.
But Ian makes a good point on the tablets, though I agree with Lynn. I want one...
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Ian Bell on Jun 2nd, 2008 at 5:53 PM:
Rob,
Have to disagree with you a lot on this Rob. I think touch-screen displays are a terrible product for desktop PCs, at least for general use. Can you imagine all the sore arms out there? What an ergonomical nightmare! :)
The LaserTouch technology Microsoft just announced is actually pretty old. I remember seeing it a few years ago tied into a Sanyo projector and displayed in a mall of all places. Kids were kicking around these projections of rubber balls on the floor. This would be good technology to use for giving presentations though. I think it just goes to show how far ahead we really are technology-wise, and how these big corporations like Microsoft try to stunt it's growth with product timelines in an effort to squeeze every dollar they can from it.
The HP TouchSmart PC is a cool product, but most people from whom I have spoken with, still wind up using the mouse, and to be honest, forget it has a touch-screen alltogether sometimes. It seems more novelty than anything.