Windows 8 Touch

Gadgetman496

Windows 8 Touch

Will the release of Windows 8 on Oct 26th lead to?

(A) An increased demand for Desktop Touch Screens

(B) Will more bundle PC’s in bricks & mortars start appearing with touch screens

(C) Will users be forced to use their trusted mouse unless they decide to purchase a touch screen themselves?


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yoyo

Moved to Windows.

Overheal

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Windows 8 Touch

Will the release of Windows 8 on Oct 26th lead to?

(A) An increased demand for Desktop Touch Screens

(B) Will more bundle PC’s in bricks & mortars start appearing with touch screens

(C) Will users be forced to use their trusted mouse unless they decide to purchase a touch screen themselves?


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A) Yes, and more models with touch functionality. Laptops will even have touch functionality

Probably

C) Yes? Without a touchscreen your other input option is a mouse. You could always by a Wacom tablet. I'm sure it will work if you get a touch-supported one.

Torqay

I doubt the demand for desktop touchscreens will increase significantly. Touchscreens cannot substitute conventional input devices and who in their right mind would want their little ones smearing the computer display with their greasy fingers anyway?

They're just something to show off with but I don't see any benefit for productivity.

As for you second question, all major manufacturers have already presented AIO computers with touchscreens and Windows 8, even in Full HD resolution.

Fysh

I'm willing to bet that desktop touchscreens of the non-Cintiq variety will prove to be popular for a little while, then lose a lot of their appeal when people realise what an utter ballache it is to use fingers+display to achieve things that are still primarily more easily achieved with keyboard and/or mouse. Simple example - text entry. In the 5 years we've had smartphones around, filling in a form on a touch-based device is either more tedious than using physical buttons or relies on autocompletion functions, because tabbing between fields/items is not an option that exists in the current touch-input paradigm.

Cintiq-style touch displays are very nice, but only really relevant for graphic designers. I'm sure touch interfaces will evolve and prove to be of greater utility than they are at present for certain groups, but more than that I look forward to the wider userbase that is humanity at large realising how generally pointless touch-based interfaces are for their requirements. Aside from anything else, I'd be willing to bet that better-tuned speech interfaces would be a higher-bandwidth alternative data input mechanism, but also requires more investment due to the difficulty involved in accurate non-basic voice recognition. Plus, moving to voice-control (or better yet, an eventual combination of dermal-interface EEG-type interface combined with subvocalised voice control) allows you to free up your hands, while moving to touch-based interface merely moves your hands from being on the keyboard and/or mouse to putting them on the screen (where they get in the way of the stuff you're trying to look at on the display).

Gadgetman496

I too just can't see myself leaning forward to touch the screen to do every task, it's just too awkward in the normal Desktop\Desk setup as we know it.

I much prefer to be kicked back with a mouse or trackball.

Touch on a small device held in you hand or lap is a different scenario to a point but for Desktops it's just not for me either.

Torqay

Fysh wrote: »

when people realise what an utter ballache it is to use fingers+display to achieve things

Indeed. Voice control and dictation software would be a more natural way to interact with a computer and even that hasn't kicked off really (who would want to end up like William Macy in Wild Hogs ).

Alun

gadgetman496 wrote: »

I too just can't see myself leaning forward to touch the screen to do every task, it's just too awkward in the normal Desktop\Desk setup as we know it.

I agree, it goes against all the established ergonomic guidelines which say you should have your monitor 18-24" away from your eyes.

Fysh

Torqay wrote: »

Indeed. Voice control and dictation software would be a more natural way to interact with a computer and even that hasn't kicked off really (who would want to end up like William Macy in Wild Hogs ).

And even that will take some adaptation for people - I don't mean of the Kripke/Siri type either, but rather things like as we get more accustomed to using voice control for day-to-day computing functions we'll need to substantially increase our liquid consumption to avoid raspy/dry throats within an hour of powering on (in the context of people who work all day at a workstation). Similarly background noise would if anything become a more pronounced issue.

The problem is that at present anything beyond simple mostly-non-interactive transcription software requires a substantial amount of calibration and is costly to develop (to the best of my knowledge Dragon are still making a fair bit of cash in this way). However, it's got more of a mass-adoption future IMO than touch-based gimmickery.

Capt'n Midnight

Just wondering how much of the fuss over Windows 8 is down to the new hardware showing it off.

Torqay

And the "new hardware showing off" has very little to do with Windows 8. Microsoft's new tablet will be running something very different, the closest relative to Windows RT is poor unloved Windows CE, and this is not exactly a great association for consumers.

Overheal

Torqay wrote: »

I doubt the demand for desktop touchscreens will increase significantly. Touchscreens cannot substitute conventional input devices and who in their right mind would want their little ones smearing the computer display with their greasy fingers anyway?

I have sales figures that suggest otherwise.

In fact my biggest consumer of Touch AiO PCs are families with young children.

you know they DO come with a keyboard and mouse still?

I don't expect a soul to want to use MS Office with purely touch input. Touch has plenty of application beyond "productivity"; such as organizing and browsing photos, which a lot of customers seem to enjoy (or claim to)

As I said though when it comes out head to a B&M and poke around it. Should be on display within a week or two.

Fysh

Overheal wrote: »

I have sales figures that suggest otherwise.

In fact my biggest consumer of Touch AiO PCs are families with young children.

you know they DO come with a keyboard and mouse still?

I don't expect a soul to want to use MS Office with purely touch input. Touch has plenty of application beyond "productivity"; such as organizing and browsing photos, which a lot of customers seem to enjoy (or claim to)

Yeah, but the point is we need to give it a year before people decide whether the reliability drop (inevitable) and cost increase (ditto) of a touchscreen is worth it for something that they may only use occasionally because they think it looks sort of cool rather than because it's any way practical - I've been using a graphics tablet with illustration and photoediting software for years, and I don't see the appeal of touch-based input when the pointer's resolution is a dot the size of your fingertip. Yes, great, your infant can prod the screen to launch the next youtube video. I'm not really convinced that's worth the extra cost and reduced durability (but then again, selling crap to new parents is one of the safest business models in the western world....)

I'm very curious to see how it goes, not least because Apple aren't doing any of this stuff so it'll be an interesting judgement on their notions of UE if this takes off and is popular.

Overheal

I've been using a graphics tablet with illustration and photoediting software for years, and I don't see the appeal of touch-based input when the pointer's resolution is a dot the size of your fingertip.

My Slate actually has Wacom pen tech in the screen so I do have the option of either.

Lookit though, you will have options like this:




I own a Desktop, a Laptop, and that Slate tablet. I use them all, for various things. Do I really check my email or post on boards on the tablet? No, not but rarely. But on the tablet I spend a lot of time reading documents, comics, watching video, etc. and other things you just dont need a keyboard for.

Something like this Yoga here will generally merge the two concepts for most people. Consumers right now are happy as a kite to buy a laptop and an iPad in the same breath. The laptop, they want for productivity. The tablet, they want to goof off, it's something to carry around, read books on, do facebook with. Yadda yadda. To do so they typically spend about $1300 by the time each is properly set up and accessorized. These laptops are going to compete against that price point.

I still want to see Samsung's option in this regard though, as I think they're the only brand out there with the Wacom license currently, as it's been seen on the Slate, Note phone and Note Tablet. It's killer.