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The Age of Touch Computing
DigitalDame2 writes "In 2009, touch computing will go mainstream. More and more devices will be legitimately touch-enabled with gesture controls for browsing through photos, tossing objects around the screen, flicking to turn the page of a book, and even playing video games and watching movies. In fact, Gartner analyst Steve Prentice told the BBC recently that the mouse will be dead in three to five years. PCMag has a full look at touch computing — the past, the present, and the future — including an interview with Sabrina Boler, touch UI designer."
IIRC, people have been claiming the mouse will be dead in X amount of years for quite a few years now. And keyboards, too. And non-automatically-driven cars. And I think we're supposed to be living on the moon by now or something...
Predictions and speculation are cool, but humans do not appear to be very good at fulfilling them in general. Talk to an economist about that.
It's hard to picture touch computing replacing the mouse graphic design. I prefer to work without fingerprints all over my screen. Playing a FPS shooter would ... interesting ... as well.
"Touch computing-which started with the iPhone"..... At this point I stopped reading...
Hey, touchscreens are great and all, especially on small devices like smartphones or PMPs, but for the 24"+ monsters they're calling monitors these days, I'll stick with a halfway decent mouse...
In fact, Gartner analyst Steve Prentice told the BBC recently that the mouse will be dead in three to five years.
I know Steve has 33 years of IT experience, but such claim is anything but probable. The only true mouse replacement would be a thought-based medium and I doubt that any commercialization of such technology is here within 5 years. For web surfing, touch and movement works just fine, but when you go for precision like gaming, Photoshop and programming.
A movement tracker for laptops would be a great touchpad replacement, however.
Full Tilt
only if the monitor is relatively flat against the desktop, at a reasonable height to prevent wrist strain, and easy to access...
I don't want to reach past my keyboard all the time to touch the screen. and I certainly don't want to lose the haptic response and general precision of a keyboard.
If a touchcreen can handle 50 words per minute typing, and is as comfortable as a keyboard..... maybe.
Maybe for tasks that don't require any precision. There are quite a few of those -- but that's not all of them.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Touch computing may be mainstream for handheld devices, but it will be a long time before the mouse is replaced on a desktop PC. What these prognosticators always seem to forget about PC displays is the display is vertical and in front of you. It gets tiring if you have to hold your arm up to touch stuff on the screen all day. Your arm does at least get to rest on the table if you're using a mouse or trackpad.
For a PC, the prognosticators also seem to forget that the mouse is good enough, and it's tremendously difficult to replace "good enough" in three years. Touch interfaces on a desktop system don't offer any benefits over a mouse (unlike on handheld devices, where a touch interface is obviously very very much better than any other kind of pointing device). For laptops, again, the vertical screen problem and arm-tiredness/screen smudging issues persist, and people find trackpads good enough with a touch screen not really offering any worthwhile benefit on a full size laptop.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Ridiculous prediction. Can someone explain how it would be "progress" or an "improvement" if, instead of my hand comfortably resting on my desk manipulating the mouse, I would have to repeatedly lift my arm and poke at my screen? Especially since in my case, poor circulation and some arthritis make repeated lifting or movement of my arm rather painful over time. (Not to mention that a self-cleaning screen would be a necessity -- my screen gets dirty enough on its own without my fat fingers smearing it up on a regular basis.)
Touchscreen technology has its place, but this is a perfect example of how a technology some people think is "cool" or "advanced" leads them to feel that it should be universally adopted.
"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." -- Eric Hoffer
With all of the new fads, some computer users may not be aware of the danger of touch screens with multiple partners. Diseases like Onchomyosis can be spread from one finger to another by touching a screen that has multiple partners. Be frank and honest with your screen. Purchase finger cotts, always have one on hand before you consider touching, and use them consciontiously!
Bruce Perens.
I call BS. Using a mouse, most of my arm weight is supported by the desk, requiring only sight movements. Can you imagine working at a computer all day and having to hold your arms up to the screen? Not to mention my hand and arm obscures everything below it, unlike a mouse pointer. Also, a mouse pointer is capable of single-pixel selection. Try that with those sausages you call fingers. (That last point was mentioned in the interview)
Touch works great for kiosks and things like ATMs. Not so much for all-day activities.
ON DELETE CASCADE
Reach and tap - mouse and click. How are these in any functional way different?
With a mouse, the pointer is a small 16x16px or so bitmap. With a touch screen, the pointer is your hand, and that's probably ten times as wide and 20 times as tall. Even a stylus obscures more of the screen than a mouse pointer.
With a mouse, you can activate something one of four ways: hover, left-click, wheel-click, or right-click. In Firefox, these are bound to open linked page, open linked page in new window, and show link's context menu, respectively. Hover isn't bound to anything, but CSS or JavaScript on a page often binds hover to show a menu. With a touch screen, there's only one click unless you make your system non-free and license the patents covering basic multitouch gestures from Apple.
Try poking your computer screen for more than a few seconds. People's arms get tired FAST.
Now lay your flat screen monitor flat on your desk, where your keyboard is, and try again. It won't be as tiring. There's a reason the Nintendo DS puts the touch screen on the bottom.
The age of no thought computing is here. Where people think that all they have to do is touch something and it magically works. They don't have to think or type or know anything to get whatever it is they want. But for those of us who live in the real world and actually have to create the content these no brainers will be using we will still be using keyboards and pointing devices. I for one don't want to spend 8-10 hours a day flapping my arms around writting an application nor do I want to spend all day arguing with my computer to get it to understand the context of the words I'm saying. Whenever these geniuses come out with some new keyboard that isn't standard that adds 52 extra keys to control every multimedia device on the planet it psses me off. How am I supposed to type on this? Where's the damn delete key? How am I supposed to do real work here? I don't need a pointing device that knows how I feel or what my favorite color is. I just need one that works.
I drove an '89 Honda Civic into the ground this month and replaced it with a Prius.
I'm not happy with the touch screen controls at all. For example, turning on the heat. I live in SoCal, one rarely needs to do this.
1. press climate hardware button along the side of the touch screen.
On the touch screen:
2. press recirculate
3. press the appropriate fan speed.
4. press defrost front
5. press defrost rear
Turn the car off and run errand. Repeat steps 1-5 after errand because it doesn't save those settings.
In the Civic, this was all done by feeling for the buttons on the dash and sliding the vent controls. I could do all of that and still keep two eyes on the road. I have to check the touchscreen on the Prius which I don't care for at all.
Given the way desktop computer UI's have only become more complicated, I'm positive the car's touchscreen UI will only get more complicated. That's a bad thing.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Anyone who thinks touchscreen computing will dominate soon better come up with a smudge-free coating.
I wonder how effective touchscreen computing would be for me with super-greasy hands after eating a pound of bacon. Yum!
Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
How naive of them. Several models of iPod had "touch sensitive" buttons before the iPhone even came out!
Cause frankly I have no clue how aiming a sniper rifle will work when you have to sight past your fingers.
If I were to program the inputs for a touch screen FPS, I'd make it so that you bring your thumb and index finger together where the person's head is visible.
"I'm crushing your head!"
I think the touchscreen paradigm will take off when someone actually figures out to use it with porn.
Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
I know this is all about the PC and we all know that as long as people have PCs somewhere there will always be mice and keyboards of some kind.
But look around. How many people have iPhones/iPods/knockoffs? How 'bout the new touch screen blackberries? Been to Redbox? Worked at a McDonald's? Its all touch screen. Computers in the wild (not home or work) are more likely to have a touch interface than not and hand-held computers (sorry 'phones') are all going that way.
Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English.
I've had a PDA for a few years and could never use effectively the stylus because of that. There's no way to right-click and open an options sub-menu.
And there's more: with a mouse there's a difference between pointing and clicking. When I'm showing something to someone, or just trying to concentrate in a particular aspect, I move the cursor around the area I'm trying to emphasize without clicking. Sometimes I point at the screen with my finger. With a touchscreen, even by waving your hand at the screen you run the risk of accidentally touching it and starting something.
I remember using the HP 150 touch screen monitor in the 1980's. It seemed kind of cool at the time, but since it could be used in that mode only with DOS programs specifically written for it, it remained a non-solution for a non-problem. Also, Zarkonnen's comment about "gorilla arm" is absolutely correct; I found myself using my left hand to hold up my right arm while poking at the stupid screen. It seemed cool for a little while, but it got harder rather than easier to use over time. Even the Word Perfect shortcut keys didn't have that disadvantage.
The only user input device worse than that is that little blue clit between the letters G, H, and B on my laptop. I have, of course, disabled the touchpad that used to send the cursor skittering in every direction.
Actually, clicking with two fingers is equal to a right-click.
I would like eye computing. You just target something with your eyes and bam. It's selected. If you don't press any key, it is selection. Key A grabs, Key B clicks. Keys goes into a small wireless control that has some buttons and maybe secondary small joystick for more complex moves that requires more than two degrees of freedom.
-- dnl
This is modded funny but it's true. The mouse requires a lot less effort than touching your screen. In that sense touch screen is almost a step backwards. The benefits of touch screen are very situational, but it seems like novelty and looks are whats drawing attention to it. I think that the touch screen is often beneficial in situations similar to tablet pc: when you are standing up, and can't easily use a mouse and keyboard.
Right now touch is often being marketed as one size fits all. The success of the iPhone has helped support that(not trying to diss Apple so please don't hurt me). The use of touch screen on phones is somewhat different though. Touch screen works better for phones when you are stationary. When you are on the go and want to type without looking at your screen the whole time, touch screen is not the best method for input.
In vehicles there are other issues. Touch screen has the benefit of saving space by combining the screen and the input devices. The problem is that it requires more attention that may be better focused on driving. With conventional controls you don't necessarily need to look away from the road for a split second.
I think the problem is that instead of finding the best use for things, people tend to follow all or nothing trends. Every new trend is supposed to completely replace the old one. At least that's how the media often presents things. Saying the mouse is going to die pretty much means they want to get credit for predicting the latest fad. Touch screen will excel in certain areas and the mouse in others. In a desktop setting, the mouse is generally going to be there fore a very long time.
You miss the point so absurdly. The problem isn't a screen you LOOK at; the problem is that your screen, sitting on it's stand, makes for an uncomfortable keyboard. (Hint: You have to keep your arms raised.)
It also makes an uncomfortable mouse. It can be bad enough having to move your fingers off the keyboard to reach for the mouse - imaging having to reach up to a screen to touch something?
The mouse and keyboard are pretty damned near perfect human interface devices and it's going to take a major overhaul of the workspace, UI design, and software in general to eliminate them. To make it feasible for the workplace, you're also going to need some sort of voice recognition that is smart and can determine if you're talking to the computer or the person sitting next to you.
Touch computing is fantastic for things like kiosks, small devices, and one-off systems such as the Microsoft "table" computer thing. But not for general purpose computing. Not for a long time, if ever - who knows, by then something better might come along.
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