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
July 22, 2013
In my research leading up to the 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 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 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 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.
-- 