Touchy, Feely …

Hmmm …

Well …

Maybe …

I’ve got to confess, one thing I know about the Great Satan’s release of Windoze 7, is that is has got something I like the look of …

Believe it or not …

Something I can remember seeing, a few years ago, was the Jefferson Han demo of his company’s multiple contact touch screen.

My first thought, when I saw it, quite simply “WOW. COOL!!”

Literally.

It’s amazing to see something like that in action.

Now, I’d worked in the pub trade for years — I’m still in the off-license part of the hospitality industry — so I’ve seen plenty of single touch, coin operated, juke-boxes and video games. You know the sort of thing, the video game kiosks that let you tap parts of the screen to pick the game you want to play, or interact with the game you’re playing.

Or the touch-sensitive Hole-in-the-Wall machines.

That sort of thing.

Windoze has had support for single-touch screens for quite some time, and has added support for multi-touch monitors in Windoze 7; or, at least, relatively simple multi-touch gestures.

As have many Linux distros; I’m also told there are plans to include multi-touch support in the upcoming Karmic Koala release of Ubuntu.

Which’ll probably get Tim excited …

But I do know that — as far as anyone tell — Apple are remaining as closed mouthed as ever, regarding any possible tablet.

About the only guaranteed multi-touch device they have done is the new multi-touch Magic Mouse.

Which, even though it doesn’t seem to support Exposé and the Dashboard in the same way as the Mighty Mouse, was one of those things Apple are so good good at knocking out; something that I — and many others — automatically WANT!!

But it does leave me wondering.

A couple of things, actually.

The obvious thing is when and if Apple will be doing some kind of multi-touch tablet Mac; something along the line of the Axiotron line of ModBooks.

Or even a touch-screen iMac.

And the other is simply the fact that, having worked in the pub-trade and seen how quirky touch-screen monitors are, I’m wondering …

How easy are these things to clean?

I mean, without ruining?

You have to be very careful with them, I know that; the only way I know of cleaning such devices, without ruining the various component parts of such a thing, basically needs a damp tissue. Then a dry one.

Cleaning ’em’s a bugger, if you don’t know that, or how touchy these things can be.

Let’s face it, I’d not want to spend a grand and a half on a touch-screen iMac to have it knackered by either greasy finger-marks, or by nastily harsh glass cleaners.

You know, that Magic Mouse is starting to look more and more, like a practical solution …

That might just be very deliberate …