Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

'Gorilla Arm' Will Keep Touch Screens From Taking Over

Posted by Soulskill on from the 2013-is-the-year-human-civilization-becomes-lopsided dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "With Windows 8, Microsoft has made a billion-dollar gamble that personal computing is taking a new direction and that new direction is touch, says David Pogue. It's efficient on a touchscreen tablet. But Microsoft expects us to run Windows 8 on our tens of millions of everyday PCs. Although touch has been incredibly successful on our phones, tablets, airport kiosks and cash machines, Pogue says touch will never take over on PCs. The reason? Gorilla Arms. There are three big differences between tablet screens and a PC's screen: angle, distance and time interval. The problem is 'the tingling ache that [comes] from extending my right arm to manipulate that screen for hours, an affliction that has earned the nickname of gorilla arm.' Some experts say gorilla arm is what killed touch computing during its first wave in the early 1980s but Microsoft is betting that Windows 8 will be so attractive that we won't mind touching our PC screens, at least until the PC concept fades away entirely. 'My belief is that touch screens make sense on mobile computers but not on stationary ones,' concludes Pogue. 'Microsoft is making a gigantic bet that I'm wrong.'"

6 of 610 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Pain by robthebloke · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, and I'll be keeping Windows 8 at arms length as much as possible.....

  2. Re:Windows 8 Is Failing on It's Own by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It doesn't need assistance from physiology.

    True.

    In fact, the un-discussed truth is that the interface was designed specifically around the physiology of Monkeyboy Ballmer, so gorilla arms are a feature, not a bug.

  3. Re:I don't want crap smeared on my screen by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Those are called "windows(tm) wipers" From microsoft.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  4. Really not a problem in practice by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anyone who spends that much time with their tablet probably already has a 'Gorilla Arm'. At least one.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  5. Re:Windows 8 Is Failing on It's Own by ultrasawblade · · Score: 3, Funny

    I always have to tell them the "key above Enter."

    Many people's IQ drop 50 points when faced with Windows authentication dialogs.

  6. Re:Pain by jd2112 · · Score: 5, Funny

    MS created Bob, was it cured / rectified with a Service Pack?

    Bob was killed outright, and as punishment the project lead ended up marrying Bill Gates.

    --
    Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.