Microsoft to add multitouch interface to Windows 7

Ina Fried | May 28, 2008

In an interesting but perhaps unsurprising move, Microsoft plans to add multitouch interface to Windows 7, CNET News.com has learned. The interface will be shown in just a few minutes as part of Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates' keynote at the D6 event in California.

Update: Ballmer says it will come in late 2009. Julie Larson-Green demos the multitouch technology, painting with several fingers at the same time to show how it can process not just touch, but multiple simultaneous input.

"It's much faster to do certain tasks than using a mouse," Larson-Green said. She also showed rotating photos by pinching and rotating, much like Microsoft's surface or Apple's iPhone.

Microsoft had previously hinted that the touch gestures would find their way into Windows. In an interesting twist though, the new technology will work with existing touch screens, Microsoft said. They showed it running on an existing Dell laptop.

Via CNET News Blogs

Filed under: PC & Peripherals
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