apparently motorola thinks multi-touch is the future too. They're
offering an online simulator and pointers to dev hardware. see:
http://labs.moto.com/multi-touch/download
Paul Ramsey wrote:
Bill Thoen wrote:
Yes, they've reinvented the mouse, and the monitor is finally big
enough and fast enough to work in a map-sized environment.
On a "future of computing" scale, I think innovations like the laptop,
tablets, and PDAs will weigh far heavier than the big table 'o
computer. Yes, some mapping offices will probably get some leverage
out of this, and it will be wider spread than just the DoD.
I think the "multi-touch" metaphor is more of a "future of computing"
thing than the big 'old table. From iPhone, to table, to every form
factor in-between, not having to use physical buttons frees up a great
deal of freedom for interesting interaction design (some of which MS
is showing in their "magic phone" demo portion). It could be a real
user-interaction catastrophe, as a million new interface metaphors are
invented.
By focusing on the negative, I think you're missing the point. By
that logic, one might even question the value of using an expensive
PC for mapmaking when pen and ink is so much more flexible and on
paper your workspace can be several feet wide. Who'd want to make
maps staring into a tiny little 20" screen? (Then again, I'm also
happy using vi on a monochrome monitor, so it's not that I don't
appreciate the old ways. I see untapped possibilities at both ends of
the spectrum.)
Perhaps I am myopic, but I doubt it. I did not seem them doing
anything new with their data. Yes, the demo was very hind-brain, but
all of what they were doing could be done with a mouse -- it was
INCREMENTAL improvement, not TRANSFORMATIVE. You can't run a live
image processing lense over a paper map, but you can do it on a
digital map... with mouse or with big-ass table.
As an aside... does your gut reaction have anything to do with it
being associated with the 800-lb gorilla of computing?
Nope, I think the idea is just as good a demo and marginal a
wide-utility concept coming from this small company, whose demo really
captures the "it's just like a mouse, only fingers" ethic.
http://www.perceptivepixel.com/
(This bothers me,
because I think it's such a great idea I shudder to think how
Microsoft will license it into uselessness. I believe they will stop
at nothing to keep Linux out of their hair.)
What's weird is that they won't let ANYONE do development with it
right now. They are only selling direct to end users (hotels and
casinos being their apparent target market). So if you want to bring
it into the county assessors office and trick it out with ArcGIS, too
bad, not for love or money.
As to it being a niche market, do you mean like HDTV was?
I guess I don't consider a technology real until I buy it myself :)
Still no HDTV... perhaps when they stop making ordinary ones. Watch
out when I get my iPhone, though, you won't be able to shut me up.
P
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