The End of Point-and-Click?
The multi-touch frenzy started with 600,000 YouTube visitors watching Jeff Y Han's multi-touch demo he gave at the TED conference in February 2006. The technology stemmed from a project at NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences directed by Jeff Y Han.
Multi-touch hype increased tenfold last month as “Surface,the new interactive coffee table by Microsoft, was introduced. The behind-the-scenes first look with Popular Mechanics shows the true power of the technology. According to Yahoo News, prices will range from $5,000-10,000 per unit. Consumer-priced versions are expected to be possible in 3-5 years.
Multi-touch technology has been around since the eighties, but the recent improved technology is allowing high-resolution and low-cost devices to be created, i.e. the iPhone. So is the traditional computer mouse doomed? Bill Buxton, principal researcher at Microsoft, says not reallyHe comments:
"Look in your toolbox; you have hammers and screwdrivers. Both are designed to push long, pointy pieces of metal into wood, and both are useful in different ways. Multitouch is just one more tool in our bag of tricks."Makes sense to me. I'm looking forward to the different devices that the multi-touch technology will bring into play, and am content that the mouse is here to stay - at least for awhile.
