Looking forward to something interesting…!

keeping fingers crossed!!

live blog (plus snarky commentary) at http://backnoise.com/allthingsd

Looks really cool, I love the idea of multi touch and all, but I think I’ll stick with my trusty mouse. ^_^

…what’s the name of that cute, busty, blond woman?

Are you wearing special shoes, Michael? lol You look like you’re 8 feet tall…

windows cute more new?

I’m hoping that more than 5 programs will exist with full multi-touch support by then. But something tells me that multi-touch isn’t going to be all that useful for Quicken, Excel and Word and the software I actually use every day.

But hey, if I ever feel the need to move pictures and maps around on my screen…multi-touch it is.

So, they think they’ll have Windows 7 out by 2010?? Yeah right. Good luck with that Microsoft. I won’t hold my breath.

The multi-touch response is noticeably laggy … which is to be expected I guess considering the whole thing runs on top of the Windows bloat.

This is classic Microsoft by the way in a sense that this demo follows exactly their very distinctive product development pattern - a copycat implementation of an existing idea, but trailing by a couple of years and inferior to the original.

Have a look again at Han’s demo at TED. That was 2006. Notice extreme responsiveness and virtually no lag. That’s how the demo should look like, especially if you are the company with a small-country R&D budget.

Lets wait until beta. They don’t show real code until Beta anyway.

@Lawrence that’s Jason Calacanis

…Sorry Jason, just teasing. We love you really.

This is a joke right? The guy doing the demo was trying his best to move oh-so-slowly to avoid showing how inaccurate and laggy the response was. Han’s old demo was silky smooth in comparison. The Wii-multitouch demo is way more responsive.

There have rumors for years that Apple is working on a multitouch iMac/MacBook, and it’s likely they’ll beat Microsoft to market with something that works.

Maybe MS will fix it in 2 years, but this seems like it’s just more featuritis that isn’t fixing Vista’s underlying issues. Do they understand why people are downgrading Vista to XP yet?

I’m a researcher doing multi-touch, having worked on it since the 90s, and if Microsoft is integrating proper multi-touch support into the OS then this is huge. The biggest barrier to the deployment of multi-touch (and multi-mouse) technology has been the stubborn insistance on the part of all major OSs that every computer has exactly one mouse attached to it. Everything at every level of the OS is designed based on this assumption, and it makes it extremely difficult to create and deploy multi-touch and multi-mouse applications.

I don’t often say this, but hurray for MS, and I hope Apple follows suit soon.

To the comments slagging the demo for poor responsiveness:

You are missing the significance of this demo. The importance is not that there is an app demonstrating multi-touch. The significance is that Microsoft may be integrating multi-touch support straight into the OS. This is huge, and hasn’t been done before.

Researchers have been demonstrating multi-touch since the 80s. It hasn’t hit the mainstream because the OSs didn’t support it. If there is multi-touch support in Windows 2010 then all of a sudden you have a billion people who can run their own multi-touch apps. This brings the demos out of the labs where they have been stagnating, straight to the people.

I’ve played with the surface numerous times and had the opportunity to take personal tour of the surface building, which I couldn’t turn down. I’m excited to see the surface technology implemented differently so it can be mass produced. This is sweet. I can’t wait.

Assuming 3D comes in at some point? — Ala: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVFsxev-2sk

-

How about combining multi touch with BumpTop ( http://www.techcrunch.com/2008...../#comments ) to replace our current desktops (in part). I also wonder how relevant the desktop will still be in 2010 (see the TC post on Google I/O today).

How about combining the multi touch interface with BumpTop (google ‘BumTop TED’) On the other side I wonder how relevant the local desktop will still be in 2010.

Like I want fingerprints all over my screen? Pew!

I see the person demoing multi-touch is a Canadian engineer. Gotta love Waterloo graduates!

Hah! I got Windows 7 on video last Thursday with the guy who invented all these surface features at Microsoft Research! Seriously, visit my qik.com/scobleizer channel.

to garth, well said sir. i work as a UI consultant for software companies and i agree with you. multitouch is not easily implementable as a lot of people think it is, especially if its embedded in the OS like this one.

to those haters who are comparing this to jeff han’s demo, the big difference is han’s demo was not based on an OS, it was it’s own platform. if this one works, it’s BIG, and i mean big for the reason that it is built within the OS. This is even better than surface because surface is just running a specific platform and hardware. Windows 7 will be configured for all tablet PCs and hardware and is OS based. you can install this on your desktop and create your own table (like surface) computer. lots of possibilities on this IMO.

You already see Modbook but it’s a tablet mac that relies heavily on a SPECIFIC hardware, much like apple’s products. If indeed apple comes out with a product with multitouch it will only be available to that SPECIFIC product. but Windows 7 will bring multotouch to the masses, people can opt to install it or not, but you can’t deny the fact that when this is feature is implemented PROPERLY you will see everyone with mulitouch capabalities.

You know … there is a good chance that Apple will have something even better before. By better I also mean ergonomics.

to Fabian,

Yea, if apple comes out with a multitouch tablet it will have better ergonomics because they create their own hardware. Windows 7 is an OS sir, it’s not hardware. Which means you can install this to a DELL, an HP pc, Alienware, Acer etc.

I’m feeling the MS love here on TC these day. Multitouch is nice… but you have to TOUCH the screen… they should integrate a wii-like sensor with an OS that can sense multi-actions. Now that will be amazing.

I need help! Anyone that can please contact me through my web site Charitystakes.com We are the worlds only LEGAL, charity based, fund raising anti gambling web site. Please take the tour then check out the article about us and the become a benefactor section. Thank you all so much, Michael

Leave it to Scoble to shill for himself and remind everyone how “connected” he is. What a childish comment–”Hey, I was first! Look at me!”

I’m sorry, but what problem does multi-touch solve? I get it for the iPhone and possibly a Tablet, but for a PC?

If this is the way they are going, I suggest investing heavily in 3M and other companies that make screen cleaners and protectors.

the possibilities are endless! porn + multi-touch!

To Mogilny,

If you want to see some multi-touch interfaces without the touch, take a look at the video for a project I worked on recently. The project is called “Shadow Reaching,” and allows a user to interact with a display using their shadow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su4ZIqxaObo

i guess i’ll have to throw away my current LCDs. and once again, we’ll be forced to shell out a few grand just to upgrade.

@Garth Cool clip. Neat technology. The problem is that visible light ruins the display quality… that would ruin @JosefVirek’s porn experience… actually his hands would be tied anyways ;). This can be used to capture motion for other uses like games.. it reminds me of that funny japanese body puzzle tv show.

Btw, @JosefVirek, how does touching a flat surface turn you on?

Yes, it’s really great! Thanks.

I’ll start a business to sell screen cleansing products

sounds cool but but i think i’ll have to wait another 5 years to use this OS

as usual this OS will be launched in India only after 2/3 years from its US launch

de, - Sunday, February 22, 2004 at 11:47:29 (PST)

In terms of Movie moments in the Tech Industry, this should be called ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. If this multi-touch function is made available inside Windows 7 and beyond, then the Microsoft O/S is far from over.

Google is now doing everything possible to weaken everyones dependence on Windows Office Products, by creating cheaper or free versions through Google Docs. But if Windows 7 has multi-touch capabilities and they only make their own Windows Office Products use this function, then Google Docs could be toast.

The same scenario could also come into play across both Earth Platforms and most intriguingly both Search functions. Imagine only being able to use multi-touch search functions on Live Search and not Google Search. Of course this may in Beta, at first. MMM.

Multi-touch can be a huge weapon for Microsoft in their battle to save their Desktop PC O/S and gain market share and revenues over the web.
Microsoft should forget about Yahoo right now and look at the tremendous possibilities multi-touch can provide for them across both the PC and the Web.

For Google its a case of, ‘U Can’t Touch This’.

I really like the picture of the guys with BIG mouths and small bank accounts!

Man Arrington doesnt look healthy at all.

i don’t think that touchscreen functionality is all that great and useful .
I prefer even button ATMs than touchscreen ATMs

If Windows 7 has multi-touch capabilities and they only make their own Windows Office Products use this function, then Google Docs could be toast -Moe Glitz

Oh really, Moe? I suppose that’s because you must be sold on Multi-Touch being a great way to interact with a Word document. Other than flipping through pages and moving stuff around the screen, how exactly is Multi-Touch going to be useful for writing anything?.

This is hardly a Google-killer. Especially when you consider that Apple and Google are basically collaborating on products left and right — and Apple is already the leader in deploying Multi-Touch technology as it already has multi-touch with the iPhone and MacBook Pro.

Oh, and I forgot the MacBook Air already has multi-touch as well:

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/features.html

OS X has been designed from the get-go to migrate into full-screen multi-touch. Just look at the way things drag and drop off of the Dock on OS X. Look at the interaction with spring-loaded folders and CoverFlow for instance. All that eye-candy that PC-lovers made fun of is just getting things ready for Multi-Touch on OS X.

The difference with Windows 7 is that Microsoft will have had a lot less experience coding that aspect of the interface compared with Apple that’s been doing it for years.

The project has huge potential. But this is a really and truly a bumpy road.

Sure, this will come out in 2010…

Apple is probably about to launch something similar, Microsoft late to the game again….

chris @ http://www.gofrostfire.com

…its a big iphone you cant call on….so

…its a big iphone you cant call on….so

Wrong. The Apple CocoaTouch API is written straight into the iPhone OS. the iPhone OS runs Darwin, and is every bit as potent as OS X itself. Multi-touch on the OS level HAS been done before. Just take a trip to the Apple store and look at any iPhone or iPod Touch. Right there. Also, the track pads on ALL Apple laptops have Multi-touch in them now.

As usual, Microsoft is just tauting their poor shadow of what is really a much better Apple technology. I can already smell the steaming pile of dung that will be the “.NET 4.0″ API, with a flood of new extensions for Multi-touch which will obviously just slow things down more, while making it just as easy as rewriting the whole application to make it work with Multi-touch. Result: no one will use it, and it will be stuck with only a few Microsoft products and a few “partner” products. It will die quietly two or three years after release. Nothing more.

The muti-touch presentation is just a copy of Apple´s interface.

Did you see that the Windows 7 demo had a Dock, just like OS X?

Microsoft’s shameless copying of the OS X GUI is pathetic.

Remember Minority Report? Tom Cruise moving windows by moving his hand?
The technology already exists:
http://tech-talk.biz/2008/05/2.....ty-report/

So why instead of Microsoft copying the iPhone interface, they do not just add gesture recognition? Wouldn’t Touchless be better than Touch computing? Think of controlling your TV screen and Media Center from your sofa without a remote..