Win 7 Touch Pack Gives You True Multitouch

By Marcus Yam
published

Windows 7 brings Surface home.

One of the coolest projects from Microsoft is Surface, which presents a graphical user interface designed specifically for touch input – even resembling some of the things we see in science fiction movies.

The problem with surface is that the setup for it is impractical for home use. Surface is more of a showcase item. But thanks to Windows 7 Touch Pack, upcoming PCs with touch-sensitive screens running the next-generation OS will be able to bring the same Surface-like experience without the need for the large hardware.

Gizmodo recently went hands on and shared its experience along with a video. Check it out here.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • scook9
    snap! apple aint gonna be happy about this.
    Reply
  • joebob2000
    scook9snap! apple aint gonna be happy about this.
    Huh? Those aren't tiny tiny people using an iPhone for a coffee table? Gosh, that's exactly what it looks like...
    Reply
  • dman3k
    Apple fanbois are delusional.

    I could go into details of why this got nothing to do with Apple, but I'm just gonna quit before I sound like a M$ fanboi.
    Reply
  • cracklint
    What happens when I drop my sac and wiener on it?
    Reply
  • duckmanx88
    touch is seriously freaking useless. its cool on a coffee table i guess but for the computer its so slow and useless, at least the hp touch screens were. to spend any effort to promote it just boggles my mind. just use a mouse
    Reply
  • jacobdrj
    Just had an article about it today in class. Isn't it called Milan now? or was that it's code name?
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    duckmanx88touch is seriously freaking useless. its cool on a coffee table i guess but for the computer its so slow and useless, at least the hp touch screens were. to spend any effort to promote it just boggles my mind. just use a mouseHP's Touch system was based on a different touch screen system, as such its not as responsive. It was more made for things like changing songs or even playing some light games (cards, chess, ect)
    Reply
  • TwoDigital
    Touch-sensitive tablets (without a physical keyboard) are the next big thing for markinging... some companies have been making them today with a limited amount of success.

    Ship it with a stylus and the option to switch between 'stylus-only' and 'touch sensitive' and you have a winner on your hands. Give it a virtual full-size keyboard onscreen and you won't go back to a laptop once you try it...
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    9129130 said:
    Touch-sensitive tablets (without a physical keyboard) are the next big thing for markinging... some companies have been making them today with a limited amount of success.

    Ship it with a stylus and the option to switch between 'stylus-only' and 'touch sensitive' and you have a winner on your hands. Give it a virtual full-size keyboard onscreen and you won't go back to a laptop once you try it...
    I do not like the total lack of tactile feeling on touch screens(personal preference). I will have a keyboard around for a while. I do like tablets for drawing(trying to draw) :)
    Reply
  • this is totaly wrong as windows can not support true multi touch ,, tru multi touch is like on phones two access points controling two diferent instantces , were windows coding can not handle wto acesspoints ..windows is single touch multi gesture ,,so please do not get confused ,, the only OS that has done any work with true multi touch for pc is linux ,,,, this is a total con you can do the same things on a computer tuch screen in windows not eve windows 8 can you have dual acess points maybe in ten years as microsoft get a kick in the pant from other companies will they work on it ,, but they should get dont for trade disccription
    Reply