General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Microsoft blames OEMs for slow Windows 8 sales, plans February "relaunch" [View all]backscatter712
(26,355 posts)In the early 80's, early PCs, along with TRS-80s, Apples and other machines flirted with touch screen, and other devices like light pens.
The big problem with touch screens in the desktop environment is the Gorilla Arm. When you're sitting at your desk in front of your computer, you have the screen set up in a way so that you can see it most easily - with the screen stood up vertically. So, if that screen is a touch screen, you've got to lift your arm and your hand up, and constantly make pointing and touching motions. Do that for even a few minutes, and your arm's going to get tired, and start slumping, and that's the Gorilla Arm effect, which is why touch screens don't work on traditional desktop machines.
The alternative which has been adopted is to give the user a way to point at things on the screen and manipulate them while their hands are resting comfortably on their desk - the mouse.
Now, OTOH, if you took the mouse and mousepad, and replaced it with a tablet with a touchscreen, set up explicitly as an input device to the desktop machine, that would be pretty cool. Instead of having to remember Ctrl-S to save, Alt-F4 to exit, F5 to refresh, Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-X to cut, Ctrl-V to paste, those buttons would be on the tablet, labeled as such, and would be set up appropriately for each app you're running - the tablet would have text-formatting, spell-checking, related controls for your word processor, it'd have an address bar, buttons to go back, forward, home, a way to flip through your bookmarks for your web browser, it'd have play, pause, forward, back for your video player, it's have your inventory/weapons arsenal/flight controls for your games.