Joe Wilcox of Microsoft Watch/Apple Watch (or Monopoly Watch) has just posted 7s Sleight of Hand raising the very same question yours truly had about the new Touchscreen capabilities targeted for Windows 7 => What are the hardware and software requirements of touchscreen capabilities?Joe thinks the demo of Multitouch on an ordinary Dell Latitude was a little bit of the old Microsoft trompe doeil, sleight of hand, and Barnum and Baily Blarney. Here is the essentials of what Joe has to say:
“Two things stood out for me: the increasing Mac-likeness of Windows and an amazing sleight of hand during the demo that may have overemphasized Sevens multitouch capabilities on existing hardware and under-emphasized the amount of necessary graphics processing power.”
Joe goes on to prove in his own mind that indeed Microsoft has not been forthcoming about what are the real hardware and software requirements to make touchscreens work in Windows 7.
In sum, Joe is on to the crucial role that GUI and touch screen operations will play in the upcoming convergence of computing devices: mobile phone, Asus like laptops, OLPC/Kindle book/tablets, OEM embedded screens, etc. They are or will be touch driven primarily.The other missing ingredient is the RAIA-Rich Anytime Interface Applications GUIs will need to support. This means they not only have to support the full spectrum of graphics, animations, video, audio, messaging, web services and the like; but also be able to do so both online/connected or offline/disconnected but still working/useful. This is what will win in the market and its now become apparent that, as Joe implies, Redmond has finally caught on while Apple and others clearly lead the way. But remember, Microsoft are very good at one thing – reduplication.
So again, if you cant find enoogh touching commentary here, be sure to check out Joess blogs – Microsoft Watch and Apple Watch.