multi-touch future products?

[Jesús Díaz Blanco]

> OK.  I can go with that.  But in the end, isn't going to be just  
> another interface besides your mouse and keyboard?

Well, l see it replacing both mouse and keyboard in a lot of areas,  
both pro (music, video editing, compositing) and consumer (iPhone,  
tablets and apps that don't need massive type input). Eventually, I  
can even imagine dual screens and mechanic parts going completely  
away. Remember that our notion of tactile screen-based keyboard is  
based on yesteryear technology. Apparently, this is an evolved beast.

"Dual screens!?" will say some "preposterous, why have dual screens  
in any device. It's silly, complete nonsense!"

And then someone thought outside the corset and sold 20 million of  
those things last year alone, that Nintendo DS thing.

> I can understand that direct manipulation of multiple objects  
> onscreen is cool.

It's not only cool. It provides with a direct relation between user  
and machine, not to mention the idea of morphing interfaces. Why  
limit yourself to mouse and keyboard when you can manipulate objects  
in a natural way. At the end, this kind of device, if properly  
implemented, eliminates layers of abstraction between user and  
machine. That's, for me, the key.

> But it certainly doesn't seem revolutionary.

I remember this same lines about graphic interfaces and mice. Why  
need that if we already have a perfectly functional, and even more  
abstract, command line. We can go back in time with this. And  
forward, towards perfect natural speech recognition and interpretation.

> Hydraulic suspension and all--why not make it some advanced  
> floating anti-gravity thing?-

Because there is already the other thing and Apple used it on the iLamp.

> -I still have to drag and drop and type and click or tap and pinch  
> and squeeze...Am I missing something really obvious here?

I think you are. The obvious is that, for you, the mental connection  
between mouse and objects on the screen —and all the action  
associated with the GUI— is now part of your nature, just like  
opening a door is. It's not to many people out there, who still  
struggle with this. The GUI as we know it is, imho, the less bad of  
human-computer interaction we have been able to come up with. If you  
look out of the computer, to other devices like the iPod, you'll see  
specialized interfaces that are better designed, simpler to use and  
more intuitive. Still, the iPod has a level of abstraction, between  
the object (the virtual music) and you. But what's more natural and  
less abstract —in fact almost real — than actually moving a page or  
flipping through album covers?

Again, that's the key. The touch.

j.
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