Digitimes is reporting that HP and ASUS are going to be releasing touch and multi-touch enabled notebooks in 2009. Mike Elgan of ComputerWorld thinks that this means we might see something as exotic as a dual screen multi-touch device in 2009. All this talk of multi-touch makes sense considering that Microsoft is set to publicly reveal the multi-touch-enabled Windows 7 for the first time at this month’s PDC event.
I’m still a bit skeptical where this is going though (in the short term)–even with my strong enthusiasm for Tablet and touch technologies. I guess we’ll find out part of the answer to this at PDC when a build of Windows 7 will be made available. How far will multi-touch be supported in Windows 7? Are we talking about extended mouse events that support multiple users? New gestures? Or might we be talking about new eventing that only apps written in let’s say the .NET platform might be able to take advantage of? And what about Microsoft’s apps, such as IE and Office? Any multi-touch support? Further, as of yet, we have no idea where the bigger picture is here. Microsoft has provided zippo leadership to the broader ISV community as of yet when it comes to multi-touch. Nada. For something like multi-touch that could be so interesting, I’m suprised Microsoft is playing it so quiet. It makes you wonder how committed Microsoft is to this user-interface approach. Are we talking of something that’s as innovative as the iPhone? Or something Surface inspired? Or might this be a “let’s get our feet wet in multi-touch and see how it goes” kind of feature?
The most important thing will be its utility, but even with that Microsoft’s success here depend on how much commitment it demonstrates to this model of interaction. Without leadership, or tepid leadership, the OEMs will muddle along, the ISVs will baulk, and the door will be left open for competitors to show how it’s done. Maybe I’m having an off day, but with the resounding silence I hear from Microsoft up to this point, the more I’m concerned I hear history repeating itself. Fingers crossed that my anxiety is poorly placed.