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Eee Is 1st Windows Laptop To Support Multi-Touch
An anonymous reader writes "CNET UK has just put up its review of the Asus Eee PC 900 Win running Windows XP and discovered that it's the first Windows machine to support multi-touch, 'Better still, the mouse trackpad supports multi-touch gesture inputs — even in Windows XP. A pinching motion lets you zoom in on images, stretching lets you zoom out, and a two-finger vertical stroking motion allows you to scroll up and down through documents. MacBook Air and iPod touch users have enjoyed this feature for some time, but it's the first we've ever seen it implemented on a Windows laptop.'"
Damn, 3 comments and no one mentioned anything about the phrase "vertical stroking motion". I'm impressed. I kinda wanted to wait and see how long it would be before someone else mentioned it, but it've screwed that up now... -Taylor
Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
Why do you assume Apple has the patent on multi-touch?...., which it doesn't!
But good luck to them if they tried to patent the gesture.
ps I am patenting my own gesture to apple for being a ripoff company.
The first Multi Touch style demo I ever saw was several years ago from Microsoft.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Multi-Touch is kind of unimaginative, when you consider the alternative: Fondle.
Now consider a computer that responds to touch all over. The intent of the user tends to be a bit vague however.
Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
Because that would invalidate the patent, silly.
-:sigma.SB
WARN
THERE IS ANOTHER SYSTEM
Really? Makes sense to me- you're reducing the field of view, so you move your fingers inwards (your fingers representing the field of view). The opposite sounds awkward to me.
I suppose, if you have the photographic mindset. I think most people can deal better with the idea of resizing the image, not a more abstract concept of FOV, especially when it's actually resizing an image on a display.
Then again, I think the entire deal is a little silly- just add a scroll wheel.
The two finger scrolling is pretty nice though. I really don't see the point in adding a scroll wheel. It's an unnecessary addition of a mechanical component when existing electronic components should do the job for most people. And it's easier to deal with as a scroll wheel would need to be accompanied with another keystroke to tell the computer that it's a resize and not a scrolling action.
By using Windows XP, users can sidestep many of the software and hardware compatibility issues that plague the Linux version. We've encountered numerous devices that don't work with a Linux Eee because of driver issues, including some USB disc drives, printers and TV tuners. You simply don't get these problems with a Windows-equipped Eee PC 900.
That's biased bullshit. There are plenty of problems trying to get hardware to work on a regular Windows XP machine, and it only gets worse on an Eee PC. Imagine first time it asks you to insert the driver CD, displays its 800x800 configuration dialog, or requires "Windows Vista or better".
Anyhow, the most amusing part of the review was the conclusion, We can't really recommend the Windows version of the Eee PC 900 over its Linux counterpart, primarily because you get nearly twice as much storage space in the Linux version. [...] If you really can't live without XP, then the best course of action is to buy the superior Linux version and install XP yourself. Strange times, when the Windows people are those that are going to have installation hassles...
Also, it is me or does it seem like Cnet is advocating piracy here? I mean, where do they expect you to get XP from; if you buy it yourself, it makes the Linux Eee 900 + off-the-shelf XP quite expensive. Presumably they don't mean that, so what's left...?
I have to say I'm surprised this wasn't covered by some sort of patent already, or will tomorrow's Slashdot include the accompanying lawsuit?
Despite the usual Apple PR distortions, Apple didn't invent multitouch and multitouch is old technology. At best, Apple may have some patents covering specific implementations, and even those may not be valid. Apple's real contribution with multitouch was to use just a little bit of it and integrate it well, but that's not patentable.
ASUS either figured they're in the clear, or they're willing to fight it. Good for them.
Put two fingers on a normal track pad and it cannot tell where your fingers actually are.
It can see a press in four places instead of two.
You could write some tricky software to emulate it but it wouldnt be as good.
E.g. Pinpoint the location of the first finger that touched and then use that information to work out where the second is.
It is quite sad that a cool and very useful feature demonstrated years ago by the leading software maker (by revenue) in the world, has to be made popular by implementation in a mobile phone by a total newcomer in that market (Apple with the iPhone), followed by implementation by a hardware maker on a low-end, low-cost laptop (the EEE). And it is not that this leading software maker can not get hardware makers to change the hardware standards, thinking of the Windows key that is present on virtually any keyboard now on the market.
I think you're missing the point of an ultra-portable subnotebook.
Well...
>two keyboards, wireless mice, an ipod
Standard equipment that would cause a riot if it wasn't supported. Yes, even the iPod.
>an external DVD drive, a pocket USB hard drive, an SD card, a USB memory stick, and my camera
All the same class of equipment, USB mass storage devices. They likely even use the same driver. Well, maybe not the DVD if it's burner.
But still, try something more challenging, like a sound card or an unusual video card.
Please try using a laptop with a multitouch scroll pad for a bit. After you get used to being able to scroll in two dimensions by just rotating your wrist (to move to your hand to the trackpad) put down two fingers, and slide them over the pad in the direction you want to move, everything else just seems clunky. The best UI features are the ones that you only notice when they aren't there, and this is definitely in this category.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
It's all a matter of expectations.
/., everyone is hardcore.
Hardcore Mac users will expect to buy hardware that is certified to work and pay a premium for it. And they say "everything just works on a Mac".
Hardcore Linux users will expect to buy Hardware they heard good things about on the internet, tweak the configurations a bit, download a few packages and patches, maybe compile a kernel or two, and fiddle about until they're satisfied. And they say "everything just works on Linux".
Hardcore Windows users will expect to buy just about anything, maybe install a driver, and then have it more or less working. And they say "everything just works on Windows".
The bottom line is: Never ask "hardcore" people about usability. And this being
"Apple's real contribution with multitouch was to use just a little bit of it and integrate it well, but that's not patentable."
What is patentable will surprise you.