All that money spent on Win7 and not enough left for good actors, tsk.

  • Thread starter Thread starter mrk
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Touchscreen desktops won't catch on. It's a stupid idea.

Who sits that close to their monitor anyway. I would need longer arms.

Its quicker and less strenuous to move a mouse anyways.
 
Well I have one elbow on my desk with my head resting on my hand and the other on the mouse. If i pivot my arm I can reach half the screen without moving my elbow (~20" away) so tbh it's not that far. Having said that I can think of two reasons touch is better than mouse at a desk, one the calculator and two photo editing...
 
Touch screens are rubbish. There is simply no real reason to move to them & in 5 years time imagine the RSI problems associated with them if they ever did go mainstream. Even something as simple as a mouse can cause no end of shoulder/back/neck problems and thats with 95% of the weight of your arm rested on a desk.

Simple as.
 
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Begbie said:
Seriously though, how is touch screen better than a mouse?
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It's all about the number of inputs surely. So with a screen you have 12 real inputs (fingers thumbs and palms) and with about three (one palm, two fingers) so in theory you should be able to use a touch screen to input more data that a keyboard. In theory that is
 
dangerstat said:
It's all about the number of inputs surely. So with a screen you have 12 real inputs (fingers thumbs and palms) and with about three (one palm, two fingers) so in theory you should be able to use a touch screen to input more data that a keyboard. In theory that is
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Eh ?

How is a touch screen better than a keyboard. It would take you 10 times longer to enter a paragraph using a touchscreen as opposed to a keyboard. I know - as I unfortunately have to do about 20 times a day on windows based computers with no keyboards. It's not nice looking at a screen sideways to see if your overly large finger is actually getting in the right area to hit the right box for the right letter. You will find that you actually look at the screen from about 45 degrees - as you can't see what written under your finger.

And with most LCDs with a touchscreen overlay that is completely rubbish - and all the contrast goes from the picture and you look like a tool.

There's no benefit whatsoever with them.
 
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divosuk said:
Eh ?

How is a touch screen better than a keyboard. It would take you 10 times longer to enter a paragraph using a touchscreen as opposed to a keyboard. I know - as I unfortunately have to do about 20 times a day on windows based computers with no keyboards.

There's no benefit whatsoever with them.
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Okay so if a touch screen had a keyboard displayed on it, it'd be a keyboard right? So why would it take you 10x longer to type on it? That's confusing.
 
At the end of the day - it's a screen displaying a keyboard.... and for the majority of people who don't know where the letters are - that's the problem.

Look at something like the 'best touch screen keyboard' on youtube to see how slow he types - as opposed to how slow he types with a normal keyboard (as he doesn;t have to look at where the keys are)
 
It would be much harder to type on a screen than it would be on a keyboard. There will be lack of feedback from the key and a totally wrong angle.
 
I always feel insulted by the new Windows adverts... "I had this MASSIVE apifany, it should "just work" so I told Microsoft, and huzzah! Windows 7 comes out, and it was all MY idea. Oh yes, I was the first person to think it should just work, and every previous release of Windows crashed by design, because nobody had thought of MY idea to make it just work. How utterly stupid of all those silly people to not think of this before."

Oh, and it's not like anything in Windows 7 is original anyway :p
 
But it's in no way better.

A keyboard has a use - as does a mouse. It' the quickest method of entering data / or moving to a desired point on a screen (with acuracy) with the current technology that we have. A touch screeen will have to come a long way before it replaces either of them.


This has already been proven with voice recognition (which during the late 90's was supposed to be the next big thing). Until it advances enough to actually understand what you are saying (or doesn't require training), or when you want to correct a word quickly - then it will always be 2nd choice - or be the choice of people who can't type easily - or due to disabilities.

And my main gripe is the RSI problems associated with touchscreens. Believe me - for older people - they are a big no-no - simply because you can't rest your arm/wrist anywhere - and after 1 hours of keeping your hand above or in-front of a touchscreen, things get very painfull. And that will affect everyone eventually.
 
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That's a rather closed minded approach to it. Touch screen will be the future, and then it'll progress onto gestures (ala minority report.) iPhone has proved this already, just look at all the phones coming out... All have similiar interfaces now.

Hell, this exact discussion can be applied to any new tech. It's fear of change.

Oh, and mouse more accurate than touching with your finger? How is using a mouse pointer more accurate than simply poking the thing you want to click?

You're forgetting that the software of today has become what it is because of he restrictions input has. Software (and specifically UI's) will evolve with input technology.

This was all typed on my iPhone's touch screen keyboard...
 
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divosuk said:
But it's in no way better.

A keyboard has a use - as does a mouse. It' the quickest method of entering data / or moving to a desired point on a screen (with acuracy) with the current technology that we have. A touch screeen will have to come a long way before it replaces either of them.


This has already been proven with voice recognition (which during the late 90's was supposed to be the next big thing). Until it advances enough to actually understand what you are saying (or doesn't require training), or when you want to correct a word quickly - then it will always be 2nd choice - or be the choice of people who can't type easily - or due to disabilities.

And my main gripe is the RSI problems associated with touchscreens. Believe me - for older people - they are a big no-no - simply because you can't rest your arm/wrist anywhere - and after 1 hours of keeping your hand above or in-front of a touchscreen, things get very painfull. And that will affect everyone eventually.
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It's all about opinion.

I can "touch type" on my iPhone effortlessly because I'm so used to it now.

I like it and can type pretty fast as well.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
It's fear of change.
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No it really isn't. Touch screens are inherently inferior to a keyboard and mouse for inputting data quickly and accurately into a computer. Touch screens have their place, but will - I hope - never replace the keyboard and mouse.
 
i don't think anyone's got a problem with the touch technology itself, just touch implemented into a monitor that's at a distance from your hands, unlike the iphone which is in your hands to begin with , that's why it works well with a phone.
 
dirtydog said:
No it really isn't. Touch screens are inherently inferior to a keyboard and mouse for inputting data quickly and accurately into a computer. Touch screens have their place, but will - I hope - never replace the keyboard and mouse.
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Inherently inferior because of what? Nothing. They are only "inherently inferior" to you because you don't want to use them. Until the last few years or so, yes because response time from a touchscreen and calibration was not great, now it is as accurate and as responsive as a keyboard.
 
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