There's a reason the first thing in Windows 7 that Microsoft chose to show publicly was its support for touch input.
That built-in ability to use two fingers to rotate, scroll, and zoom offers tangible proof that the operating system is different from its predecessor, not to mention being something not found on a Mac.
However, many say that comparatively few Windows 7 PC owners will actually be reaching out to touch their screen. That's because, to use one's fingers in such a manner requires a screen that can support the technology--something that often adds $100 or more to the cost of a PC.
As a result, many expect touch-capable computers to be just a tiny fraction of the market for desktop and notebook computers, even after Windows 7 arrives on store shelves on October 22.
"We're thinking like 5 percent to 10 percent of shipments for 2010," said IDC analyst Richard Shim. And Shim said that, unless circumstances change, the rate isn't likely to climb significantly in the coming years.
Part of the problem is that there really isn't a killer application for touch on the PC, despite the fact that putting ones fingers on the screen has become the de facto measure of cool in the cell phone market.
It's not that there isn't interest in selling touchscreen devices. Hewlett-Packard introduced its TouchSmart all-in-one in 2007. The company now has several touch models, including both desktop and notebook machines. Dell has a Latitude notebook aimed at businesses and has also added an all-in-one with a touchscreen option.
And once Windows 7 hits the market, others will no doubt follow suit, particularly since Microsoft has done a lot of the work. Shim said he expects nearly all the major PC makers to have at least one touchscreen model when Windows 7 launches in the fall. Monitor makers are also expected to offer touchscreen displays that can plug into standard PCs.
"Touch will roll out," Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview last week. "We'll see it in all-in-ones and we'll see it in some laptops and you will see it across the different PC markets."
But just how many of these models will actually get sold is another matter. Some reports suggest that the low-cost Netbook market could actually see things pick up fastest, given their smaller (and therefore cheaper to touch-enable) screens and the fact that people are often using them on the go, without a mouse.
Although Microsoft offers a standard interface for gestures in Windows 7, there are actually several different technologies that computer makers can use to build a touch-capable computer.
New Zealand-based NextWindow uses an optical technology in which tiny sensors are mounted on the top corners of the display and allow the fingers' positions to be captured. It is the company behind the technology used in the all-in-ones from HP and Dell.
Israel's N-Trig, meanwhile, uses capacitive resistance, the type of technology used on the iPhone to read finger input. It combines this with a second technology to also allow input from a stylus. Its technology is employed in HP and Dell laptops, and N-Trig has also received funding from Microsoft.
N-trig's dual-mode digitizer allows for both pen and touch input and is used in laptops from HP and Dell.
(Credit: N-trig)NextWindow's technology doesn't require a special coating or film on the glass, so its screens can look as bright as non-touch displays. However, because it adds a certain depth to the screen, it isn't as suited today to the notebook market.
Touch is actually not entirely new notion for Windows, although Windows 7 is the first to support using two fingers at the same time. In the early days of Vista's development, when it was still code-named Longhorn, Microsoft envisioned the tablet PC market expanding to include touch-enabled devices.
"I'm not sure that it ever delivered on that promise," said NextWindow CEO Al Monro. "There really weren't any of the (software makers) that got behind it."
Although that continues to be a challenge, Monro notes that the market has changed considerably--most notably with the introduction of Apple's iPhone.
"That really brought touch into the mainstream," Monro said.
It also broke down a psychological barrier, Monro said, the notion that computer screens were something to avoid getting one's fingers on. NextWindow has its origins making large touchscreen displays for things like retail kiosks. Not too long ago, he said, the company had to put signs near its installations that said "I'm a touch screen. Touch me."
"You had to really scream it out," he said. "Now people just expect it."
The question now is whether software makers on the PC side will embrace touch interfaces in the way that those who design software for the iPhone have done.
As is often the case with new technology, it's sort of a chicken-and-egg problem, Monro acknowledges. Software makers don't take the time to adopt touch interfaces because not enough touchscreen PCs are sold, while the PCs are a tough sell because there is not enough software.
Monro said he still doesn't have a good feel when that cycle will break. "People aren't going to buy touch screen unless there are a range of things (they can do)."
For its part, Microsoft has done a couple things. By supporting touch at the operating system level, most applications should allow touch control of at least basic functions such as resizing windows, scrolling, and moving the cursor.
The company has also created a "touch pack" that computer makers can include on their systems. The software collection includes some casual games as well as small applications that have proved popular in Microsoft's other multitouch computer--its tabletop Surface machine for restaurants, hotels, and attractions.
Monro also disputes the idea that there needs to be one killer application. Rather, he said, what the industry needs is for a variety of software makers to take the plunge. Mapping, painting, and even social networking can all be better, he said.
"There are just going to be a variety of things that are easier to do with touch," he said.
While we've heard a lot about Windows 7, we haven't heard too much about the software and hardware that will take advantage of the new operating system.
That's starting to change.
This week, touch-screen maker N-trig is showing off a variety of third-party software programs that take advantage of the multitouch features of Windows 7. Meanwhile, Microsoft's hardware unit said it is also building support for Windows 7's new taskbar and thumbnail previews into its line of keyboards and mice.
Microsoft said beta versions of the drivers for its products are available now, with final versions set for release at the end of next month.
On the software front, N-trig is showing off a number of multitouch Windows 7 applications at a display conference in San Antonio, Texas, this week. Microsoft has also announced its own package of free touch programs for Windows 7, including three casual games and three programs ported over from Microsoft's Surface tabletop computer.
"There's lots of stuff going on," N-trig Vice President Lenny Engelhardt said in a telephone interview. Among the applications N-trig is showing is a photo browser from FingerTapps and a multitouch 3D design program from SpaceClaim. Corel also said it will have multitouch-enabled programs later this year, but didn't give specifics.
"Windows 7 and Windows Touch are giving Corel's software designers an incredible opportunity to enhance how consumers experience creative software," executive vice president Joe Roberts said in a statement.
Getting compelling software is key to transforming multitouch from a curiosity into something that consumers are willing to pay for. A touch screen adds on the order of $100 or more to the cost of a system, depending on screen size.
"In this current economic climate, to get people to buy new hardware is going to take some real nice, compelling applications," Engelhardt said.
HP and Dell have started shipping multitouch machines ahead of Windows 7, but Engelhardt said he expects all the major hardware and software makers to support touch at some level once the new operating system hits the market in October.
"None of these guys wants to be left out," Engelhardt said.
Although touch will remain a small part of the total PC market, Engelhardt said he sees it expanding from where it is today, with a few desktop models as well as a handful of convertible tablet laptops.
"A lot of those notebooks are going to be larger than what you have seen," he said. "There will be computers with 14- and 17-inch screens."
Multitouch will also reach the Netbook sector, though that market is harder to predict, he said.
Engelhardt said that multitouch has the opportunity to do the same thing for Windows PCs that the iPhone did for mobile phones--take a task that everyone was already doing and make it fun.
A video from N-trig shows some other possibilities for where touch can go in Windows 7. In the video (embedded below), N-trig shows a number of gaming scenarios, including the ability to play Guitar Hero using several fingers touching the screen. Although the makers of Guitar Hero haven't announced such plans, Engelhardt said the option is entirely technically feasible, with his engineering team having created a working demo.
Thus far, Engelhardt said, the consumer area appears to be ahead of the enterprise software market, but over time he expects more touch-enabled business applications as well.
For its part, Microsoft said it is happy with the level of touch support it is seeing from developers.
"We are pleased to see how quickly our partners are developing multitouch applications on Windows 7," principal group program manager Ian LeGrow said in a statement.
SAN JOSE, Calif.--The success of Nintendo's Wii and Apple's iPod have shown the consumer appeal of devices that respond to human touch and movement, but a quick glance around the San Jose Hilton showed just how young the industry is.
While this week's RSA 2009 show fills the Moscone Center a little ways up north in San Francisco, the Interactive Displays 2009 conference barely fills a mid-size ballroom here. Its show floor more closely resembles a science fair than the glitz of a big-time trade show.
But if you used one of the interactive displays here to show a heat map of this industry, it would glow red hot. That's because touch displays, for years relegated to kiosks and industrial uses, are quickly becoming mainstream. Hewlett-Packard and Dell already have touch-capable machines, while Microsoft is set to make gesture input standard with Windows 7.
And while the show is small, the 270 attendees are more than the show's organizers had expected, leading to a shortage of dishes, but an abundance of energy.
Speakers at the conference include big names like Microsoft and multitouch pioneer Jeff Han, while the small show floor serves as a showcase for start-ups, along with those that supply the base components needed to power touch screens and other interactive displays.
Among those young companies is a San Jose-based outfit called 22miles. Like many of the companies here, its core business has been one-off projects for hotel displays. But the company is also hard at work on technologies that go way beyond powering an interactive directory.
With a swipe of his finger, CEO Joey Yu Zhao pulled up a prototype interactive TV application. A video of a basketball game started playing. Zhao used a finger to pause the game and then swiped his finger to play in slow motion.
With a two-finger swipe, the video played faster and with three fingers it played faster still. Zhao even did his Mike Fratello impression, circling one of the players in red with another swirl of his finger, much as the "telestrator czar" does on TV.
In another corner of the cramped hallway that serves as the show floor, Canada's GestureTek showed some of its wares. On the floor is the kind of display that has become common at malls and other places, while another setup featured a driving game that can be controlled with nothing but a user's two hands, gesturing in mid-air.
It's intuitive, but tricky to master. One uses their hands as a steering wheel, spreading their hands out to accelerate and bringing them together to slow down. (As the video below shows, I'm not very good at it, but the idea is quite fun.)
On stage, speakers discussed both new areas for exploration as well as the key hurdles the industry still faces--issues of cost, size, and accuracy.
As far as what's in the future, one interesting topic had to do with displays that themselves can mold or "deform" themselves in response to touch.
Such technology is not here today, but is probably not more than three to five years out, said Christophe Ramstein, chief technology officer at Immersion, a company known for its force feedback technology. Ramstein said he is talking with a lot of large companies about the potential of that area.
"It's a big area," Ramstein said. "They are interested."
In his speech, Han talked about what he and his company--Perceptive Pixel--are up to these days. Although a lot of the company's business is in the industrial and government space, Han noted that his company has become best known for the touch wall systems it has sold to broadcasters like CNN, which used them in its election coverage.
"We actually didn't think broadcast was an area for us," Han said. "They found us at a military trade show."
He also showed a clip of the "Saturday Night Live" parody of the election coverage, saying it makes an important point. "It's a really fine line for us between something that really works...and falling into a gimmick," Han said.
Han also took the crowd on a bit of a journey back in time, reminding folks that while the multitouch business is young, its technology roots stretch back decades.
For his own part, Han said he was inspired by seeing a PBS documentary in the early 1980s that showed Microsoft researcher Bill Buxton, then at the University of Toronto, using multitouch to compose music on a computer. The computer itself was a green screen with an ancient processor and little memory, but the key underlying concept was already there.
"Sometimes it takes that long for these things to marinate and gestate," Han said.
And while things are now taking off, Han urged the crowd not to forsake quality in the rush to take advantage of a hot market. "That will ruin it and mess it up for all of us, and that would be a real shame," Han said.
While much of the attention on multitouch surrounds what devices the interface will next find its way onto, Microsoft is also looking at how to improve the gestures themselves.
At a computer interface conference in Boston, Microsoft is presenting ideas for how to perform 27 different commands--ideas that stemmed by showing test subjects a set of commands and asking them to do the most logical gesture. Those that were popular among multiple people were the ones the researchers said made the most sense.
Microsoft Research used test subjects to try and create natural touch gestures to represent 27 common computer commands. Here was a popular suggestion for the "undo" command.
(Credit: Microsoft)"If they are going to be universal gestures we want them to be very natural," Microsoft researcher Meredith Morris said in an interview last week.
The research comes as the use of such gestures is starting to take off. Multitouch gesture controls are already an integrated part of the iPhone and Microsoft's Surface and are also supported on some notebook trackpads. Windows 7 adds operating system-level support for multitouch gestures.
While widely praised as intuitive, Microsoft's research shows only some of the gestures used on multitouch devices make sense, Morris said. Other gestures, particularly those that involve using a specific number of features, are actually not very intuitive, Morris said.
That's because people tend not to associate gestures with the number of features they use.
"They don't assign meaning to that," Morris said, noting that Microsoft's research showed people tended to use one, two or three fingers interchangably when performing a gesture. "We should be careful about that."
What users did like to do, Morris said, was make gestures in the air, something that today isn't supported by devices like the Surface or the iPhone, though other research prototypes have focused on mid-air gesture input.
"That speaks to how you might design next generation systems," Morris said. "You might want additional camera so you can begin to get some of these."
The most popular suggestion for summoning help was for a finger to draw the shape of a question mark.
(Credit: Microsoft)In some cases, Morris said the research suggested multiple ways of generating a command. To activate the "help" command, for example, the most popular suggestion was to draw a question mark on the surface with a finger. However, one participant suggested another way might to be to bring their hand toward themselves, as if to beckon for assistance.
Where the same suggestion was made by several people, Morris said her team tried to incorporate multiple gestures for the same command.
Morris is presenting a paper on the gesture research, as well as several other papers at the CHI 2009 conference, an event that brings academics and folks from the business world together to look at human-computer interaction. In all, Microsoft is presenting or co-presenting 25 papers, more than 10 percent of the total, Morris said.
Among the presentations Microsoft made at the event last year was MySong, a method for automatically adding background instruments to vocal tracks--a project that eventually became the .
Here were the suggestions for two of the most often used commands--copy and paste.
(Credit: Microsoft)Microsoft has already gone into plenty of detail about the touch features in Windows 7. In fact, touch was the first thing that the company shared when it came to how Windows 7 would look and feel.
But for those that really want to go deep, the company on Wednesday posted an even more detailed look at the thinking that went into building touch into Windows 7.
The company also noted that it continues to tweak the way gestures work as it gets more feedback from the beta version of Windows 7 that was released in January. For example, in its earlier incarnation, the recognition engine was missing many quickly performed gestures.
"We tuned the gesture detection engine with sample gesture input provided by real people using touch in pre-release builds," Microsoft said in the blog posting. "These tuned gestures are what you will see in the (release candidate) build."
The company also notes which touch-capable machines already in the market support the pre-release versions of Windows 7, namely HP 's TouchSmart All-in-One PCs (IQ500 series & IQ800 series), its TouchSmart tx2 Tablet PC, and Dell's Latitude XT or XT2 Tablet PC.
The blog goes into a lot of detail on how the gestures work and how the company tests the features. Because it's sometimes easier to see something in action, I've included two videos--one that I did last fall and another that Microsoft posted on Wednesday along with its blog.
Here's our earlier video:
and Microsoft's:
A rough economy isn't stopping Microsoft from spending in key areas. The software maker on Monday announced a new ad campaign aimed at wresting spending from cash-strapped companies as well as the company's own investment into a start-up focused on multitouch.
In the latter area, Microsoft is part of a $24 million financing round for N-trig, a Kfar Saba, Israel-based company that provides technology for sensing pen and touch input. The size of Microsoft's stake was not disclosed.
N-trig's technology is used in current multitouch computers from companies such as Dell and HP, a category Microsoft hopes to expand by building gesture support directly into Windows 7.
"With the introduction of multitouch in Windows 7, integrated with N-trig's DuoSense technology, our customers will have a new and natural way to interact with their PCs," Microsoft Group Program Manager Ian LeGrow said in N-Trig's press statement. "By simulating the way people write and touch naturally, N-trig is helping to make it easier to navigate your PC and enable a new class of Windows experiences."
An image of a print ad from Microsoft's "everybody's business" ad push.
(Credit: Microsoft)As for Microsoft's new ads, they started running during Sunday's NFL playoff coverage and carry the theme "Because it's everybody's business" and is part of the company's long-running "people-ready" campaign. They are designed to feature specific customers, such as Quicksilver and Coca-Cola talking about how they are using Microsoft products to ride the waves, quite literally in Quicksilver's case.
In a Q and A posted to Microsoft's press Web site, General Manager Gayle Troberman said that the time was right for Microsoft to tout what it has to offer businesses.
"We think software can provide one of the biggest competitive advantages, and that's especially critical now when a lot of companies are struggling just to keep the lights on," Troberman said. "Microsoft's view is that business leaders who maintain a long-term perspective--even as they take short-term steps to adjust to the current economic realities--have the chance to emerge from a downturn in a better position than they were in before.
Although the company is spending on ads, Troberman indicated the company may not be spending as much as it originally had planned.
"As for executing the campaign, we've taken a hard look at every advertising and marketing dollar we're spending, and there are areas where we're changing plans," Troberman said. "We also think we're getting a great deal on advertising 'real estate' right now, so we hope we can get a lot more value out of the dollars we are spending today."
In an interview last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer suggested that the company is taking a tough look at where it can cut spending but declined to offer specifics, noting that the company is in a quiet period before announcing its earnings later this month.
"The fact of the matter is, this is not a downturn, this is a bit of a reset," Ballmer said. "Those are quite different and we're trying to really suss through what we think that means for us."
Both the N-trig investment and the business ad push were reported on Sunday by The Wall Street Journal.
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As many people have noted, Windows 7 is a lot like Windows Vista. But by adding multitouch abilities, Microsoft is hoping to create an operating system that, quite literally, feels different from Vista.
And, when you do get to put your hands on Windows 7, it certainly is a much different experience than Windows Vista. For those who missed it, here's a video of the touch features in action, taken at the PDC.
But PCs that use that multitouch technology are bound to cost more than their traditional counterparts. And I'm just not sure how many people will actually fork over extra cash for that experience. Personally, I like touch. I'd probably pay more for a laptop or desktop that had touch-screen controls.
But I might be in the minority here. Apple users seem to crave innovations, even those that come at a price. Windows users, meanwhile, tend to have a different cost-benefit calculus, one that makes it hard for pricey extras to reach the necessary volume where they are no longer pricey.
With Vista, for example, Microsoft was touting the notion of a secondary display, a feature known as SideShow, that could offer a quick look at upcoming calendar appointments without having to open up a laptop. I know of only a couple instances of SideShow actually being used. The biggest factor I heard was the cost.
The question is, will touch be any different?
I talked about this and some of the other challenges and opportunities for Windows 7 as part of a Daily Debrief video. What do you think? Take our poll or sound off below in TalkBack. And click here for our photo gallery of Windows 7's multitouch features.
LOS ANGELES--In addition to getting to spend a few minutes playing around with Windows 7's new desktop, I had a chance to play around with its multitouch gestures.
The brief look came on a machine running a later build than the one Microsoft handed out to developers last week. More similar to the version that was shown onstage Tuesday, the machine I used had the new desktop featuring the Aero Peek and other features.
I thought it might help to show some of the features in a short video. (It was me holding a Flip video camera, so apologies for the jitters and less-than-ideal sound.)
Along with the gestures themselves, Microsoft has tweaked the desktop to support touch, doing things like spreading out menu lists to make the operating system easier to navigate with just a finger.
To scroll through a Word document, for example, users can run their finger anywhere in the Word window (not just in a narrow scroll bar). It has also added some visual cues, such as making a window bounce when one has reached the end or beginning of a document. That helps, because it can be a little hard at first to figure out which way to flick to head down a window.
The key question is going to be how much software developers take advantage of touch and how many computer makers include the necessary hardware in their laptops and displays.
In general, Microsoft has aimed with Windows 7 to provide features that don't require third-party support to light up. But touch is an exception. If you don't have a machine that supports touch, you get none of the benefit.
Many programs will have support for basic gestures, such as scrolling, but what will also be interesting is seeing programs that truly take advantage of the technology.
Microsoft's approach with Windows 7 also highlights a key difference with Apple. The Mac maker has focused, at least thus far, on expanding the touch abilities of the laptop trackpad. Microsoft, meanwhile, seems aimed at touch on the screen itself--though trackpad makers such as Synaptics have added support for gestures that XP and even Vista laptops can take advantage of if their makers' wish.
One Windows PC maker, Hewlett-Packard, has been branching out on its own, adding its own line of touch-screen computers ahead of Windows 7. It has updated its TouchSmart PC a couple of times and is also targeting the technology for laptops. Last week, HP also opened up its TouchSmart interface to developers.
During his keynote Wednesday at the CEO Summit, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates shows off TouchWall, a 4-foot-by-6-foot touch-screen computer prototype.
(Credit: Microsoft)It's one step removed from the Midas approach, but Bill Gates wants to turn nearly everything we touch into a computer.
Speaking to a crowd of CEOs gathered in Redmond, Wash., Gates showed off prototype technology he said will allow home and office walls to become computers.
While Microsoft's Surface computers are currently shipping for about $10,000, Gates said the hardware costs for such products need not be that high. Within a few years, it could be in the hands of individuals.
"We're saying it will be absolutely pervasive," Gates said. "When I say everywhere, I mean the individual's office, the home, the living room."
What Gates showed on Wednesday was a 4-foot-by-6-foot prototype called TouchWall. Among the things that appealed to me was the idea that presentations might shift away from the sort of robotic slideshows enabled by PowerPoint.
Along with TouchWall, Gates showed off the software that accompanies it, known as Plex. TouchWall itself uses infrared and laser technology to sense touch input, Microsoft said.
In his speech, Gates also proved why TouchWall is still in the prototype stage.
"Whenever I go up and touch it, the software will notice it," Gates said, in kicking off the demo. When nothing happened, he added the qualifier "theoretically."
The screen did come to life a few minutes later.
Microsoft user experience designer Russ Burtner tests out TouchWall ahead of Chairman Bill Gates' Wednesday keynote at the CEO Summit. The touch screen, which is approximately 4 feet by 6 feet, is a research prototype.
(Credit: Microsoft)In his waning days as a full-time employee, Bill Gates is getting a little touchy-feely.
I'm not sure whether Gates is getting more emotional, but he is definitely big on the power of new user interfaces, especially touch-screen devices. On Wednesday, he is set to show off Microsoft's latest prototype, known as TouchWall.
The device to be shown Wednesday is something like a giant Surface unit turned on its side.
TouchWall is one of several multitouch prototypes Microsoft Research has created, in addition to the tabletop unit that Microsoft's Surface group has begun to sell commercially. Among the other devices the company is also reportedly working on is a sphere-shaped device.
Others also have multitouch walls. Multitouch pioneer Jeff Han has begun to sell one, while Hewlett-Packard showed one at last year's "D: All Things Digital" conference.
Han's unit was offered for $100,000 in Niemen Marcus' luxury holiday catalog last year, and CNN is using one in its election coverage.
Gates' demo comes as part of the company's CEO summit, an annual gathering of business leaders that runs through Thursday at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
A Microsoft representative declined to offer any details about whether or when TouchWall might be available commercially. The device is not being developed by the Surface unit, but rather is a collaboration between Microsoft Research and the company's newly formed Office Labs unit.
