Disqus
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
About The Author
Will Park
Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
