We have spent a number of years implementing touch and multitouch experiences in public spaces and the like. But the success of multitouch on mobile platforms like the iPhone has definitely gotten a lot more people talking about whether it might come to replace the mouse in personal computing like it is replacing the stylus in mobile computing.
Of course touch has been available on various tablet PCs for a while, but that’s still closer to mobile than it is to desktop computing. These days, there is the HP TouchSmart, which has a lot of built-in multimedia capabilities and handles multitouch. Now that Windows 7 is out, with native multitouch support, expect to see some interesting new multitouch applications.
But touchscreens, while they solve a lot of problems for simple, public experiences, have inherent issues for desktop computing. (Note that the TouchSmart above still comes with a mouse.) Which brings me to 10/GUI. 10/GUI is a thoughtful evaluation of those limitations (along with the limitations of the window paradigm of modern operating systems) and a set of proposed solutions. It’s well reasoned and deserving of attention. It may not end up being the solution that’s eventually adopted, but if nothing else it will further the conversation.
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