The fallacy of trends reaching infinity does not seem to have registered at Microsoft -and maybe not at Apple, either. Tends always: (1) Level off, or (2) Decline, or (3) Reach a point where they fluctuate up and down, or (4) Level off only to start growing again after months or years, or (5) Reach a place where the subject of the trend differentiates into separate products or services or demographics or ideas, etc each of which creates a new trend, viz , a calving effect. Apple has just gotten rich beyond anyone's dreams by discovering that there is more money to make in selling Fords than in selling Cadillacs. However, Microsoft does not seem to have learned that there still is a helluva lot of money to make selling Cadillacs Instead it wants to turn Cadillacs into Fords. The desktop market is not the same thing as the portable device market. Why in the hell would I want to touch my desktop screen? That would be crazy; do I really want to clean off finger smudges every day -or every hour ? Why would anyone want to do that ? And for an artist -almost any kind of artist- what you DO NOT WANT is anything at all that causes friction on your fingertips; that can only screw up sensations you need for painting or piano playing or sculpting or anything else. But, hell, Big Computer Companies don't need to consult artists when designing their products, screw 'em, they don't matter even if about 5 million Americans are artists of one kind or another and if you add musicians to the mix, the number is closer to 10 million. My desktop screen is "soft" and compatible with touch. I don't like it at all. It serves no useful purpose and is more difficult to clean that a glass screen. O well, another disimprovement to learn to live with -for what? Billy --------------------------------------------- PC Magazine Do People Really Want to Touch Their PC Screens? Microsoft is learning quickly that just because touch works well for mobile computing, doesn't mean it's ideal for desktop computing.
By _Tim Bajarin_ (http://www.pcmag.com/author-bio/tim-bajarin) July 22, 2013 In my research leading up to the _Windows 8_ (http://www.pcmag.com/windows-8/) announcement, I never heard people voice a desire for touch as a way to navigate among apps. They were quite comfortable using a mouse and trackpad as they had been doing for years. Even now our research shows that many feel lifting their hands off of their keyboard or mouse to touch the screen is unnatural. So why did Microsoft rush a new UI to the PC market if folks were happy with their existing one? The answer to this question probably lies in Microsoft's desire to differentiate and, to an extent, leapfrog Apple and Samsung by making touch central to future PCs. The company observed how people navigate their mobile devices with their fingers and probably thought that if touch was good for mobile, it would be even better for PCs. At Microsoft Build, thousands of attendees awkwardly tried to navigate their new _Surface Pros_ (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2415089,00.asp) and Windows 8 laptops. If they were sitting up in a chair, they had to lean forward to touch the screen. Then they would then sit back and type and if they had to touch the screen again, they had to what we jokingly call "bow to it." In contrast, people with laptops fit with trackpads sat straight up in their chairs and worked diligently with no interruption in body movements. This is issue is magnified if you want precise cursor placement. In fact, many touch-based laptops, especially those going into IT, now come with mice since using your finger to find the exact place to insert a number in a spreadsheet or DTP document can be very difficult. Interestingly, a new product will ship this month from Leap Motion that embraces gestures but still allows a person to remain working in a natural way. The small $80 _Leap Motion Controller_ (https://www.leapmotion.com/) plugs into your USB port and uses software to interpret your gesture motions. It lets you manipulate 3D objects with your fingers, wave at the screen to advance Windows 8 tile pages, and even draw with your fingers while still sitting upright. I've been hearing about this product ever since it won the Breakout Digital Trend Award _at SXSW _ (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2416416,00.asp) last March. I finally got to see a demo in person and am highly intrigued. It works very well and is a breath of fresh air on Windows 8 when it comes to integrating gestures. This presents a big question: if touch takes off, will Apple ever bring a touch screen to MacBooks and iMacs? I really doubt it given its studies of how people actually use laptops and PCs and the kinesiology behind the motions used to navigate them. If Apple were to add a touch screen to any laptop-like product, it would probably be in the form of a hybrid or convertible. There have been rumors of such a device but as of now they are just rumors. Over time, as cheaper versions of Windows 8 touch laptops hit the market, the touch UI will become an optional way for people to interact with their PCs and desktops. However, the uptake in Windows 8 would have been better if Microsoft had more gradually moved to touch first through smart trackpads on low-end laptops and PCs without touch screens. But forcing Windows 8 on all PC users, even ones without touch screens, cost the company and its partners dearly by reducing demand for PCs during this past year—as if tablets weren't already putting enough pressure on the market. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
