Microsoft: Forget Multi-Touch, We got "Shift"

Microsoft is planning to butt heads with Apple's multi-touch interface with their new "Shift" interface. At CHI 2007 (Computer Human Interface Conference), Microsoft's paper, “Shift: A Technique for Operating Pen-Based Interfaces Using Touch," won the Best Paper award. The paper describes the new Shift input method as making it "possible to use a pointer on a PDA that can be guided by finger motion — once the pointer is in position, the user simply lifts his thumb or finger to select the target." That's an interesting take on beyond-stylus interaction, but it's doesn't really strike us as all that innovative (does that surprise you, being from Microsoft and all?). We're already using finger gestures on our touchscreen smartphones - Shift only seems to change the way you select a target. You have to wonder if it's going to be enough to beat the multi-touch's two-finger gestures. Especially since Apple was first to market stylus-less, finger input.

via: i4u

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