Touchscreen computers to be the next big thing?

Apple has done an excellent job of gaining mass market acceptance for touchscreen functionality. The iPhone is the best selling smartphone on the market, and part of its success can be attributed to its touchscreen. It seems Microsoft is hoping for the same level of success with the touchscreen capability on PCs with Windows 7. However, does touchscreen popularity on smartphones translate well to computers?

Touchscreen technology has been around for ages, but it was considered gimmicky and not taken seriously until Apple released the iPhone.

Honestly, the iPhone is a great device, but the touchscreen functionality is over hyped. I often hit the wrong buttons on the screen and calls are inadvertently made without me knowing. On the other hand, it is pretty cool to physically move things on the screen with the touch of my finger.

According to Businessweek, Microsoft and Dell are both gambling big on the touchscreen market. Microsoft has the Surface, which is a touchscreen table where things can be moved around via touch. Also, Dell has been investing in touchscreen laptops. With Windows 7 and Dell’s Latitude XT combined, the synergy between technologies is being fully realized. Windows 7 is probably the first full fledged OS to be optimized to take advantage of touchscreen technology.

Despite the practical nature of touchscreens, the technology only seems well suited for smartphones where you are constantly handling the device anyway. The question of whether touchscreen functionality is practical on PCs is yet to be answered.

Microsoft’s Surface makes sense because you are manipulating software as if it were sitting on a table. However, it does not seem practical to implement such technology on desktops, where you will have to constantly raise your arm to manipulate the software. Also the feasibility of looking down at a tablet or even the Surface diminishes over an extended period of time. I would suspect that chronic neck cramps would occur.

No matter how you size it up, touchscreen technology on computers seems more like a marketing gimmick than a practical way of interacting with your PC.

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