Microsoft seem to be making a big thing of the Window 7’s touch screen technology. Now you can zoom in, select, scroll, skip, whatever with your PC monitor as you would on your iPhone.

But let me ask: how close do you have to sit to the screen to use this technology sensibly on a PC?

Source: Daily Telegraph

I remember the first time I had to use a mouse - yes, as a young lad I became familiar with computers without mice, through Sinclairs and really simple machinery. Suddenly jumping to a mouse and flipping around with my hands became a real challenge. It’s not conducive to fast typing when you’re taking your hands off the keyboard the whole time. I’ll admit, I’m still a keyboard man.

But now I’ll be expected to jump between the keyboard, a mouse and the screen. Has it escaped product development that a PC is not a handheld? And you use PCs differently from a laptop? I’ll have to lean forward, OVER the keyboard, then back, then reach out for the mouse. Will this really make work easier or slow things down?

I think I’ll stick to keyboard shortcuts.

Anyway: some fundamentals last:
Who are they marketing this system to anyway, the octopus community?
Is this a product/factory led “innovation” or based on true customer needs?
What do people say who’ve had to flap around with their hands on this system - have they tested this with REAL customers?

And: how often would I have to wipe my screen clean?