while the software that powers it continues to disappoint.

It seems that after all these years, Bill Gates has run out of ideas for software, and doesn’t want to concern himself with the repair of software problems.

In a CEO Summit held in Greece, Mr. Gates showed off a project of Microsoft Research called TouchWall.

The prototype is designed to demonstrate how inexpensive hardware could turn a large surface — in this case a 6 x 4 foot screen — into a dynamic touch display. So while Microsoft is investing millions in hardware it will never sell, where’s the multi-touch version of Windows? Where’s the fix for Vista?

The Gates demonstration shows what previous demonstrations by Jeff Han and others have shown, which is that the next great leap in PC user interface design will have multitouch, gestures and physics like the Apple iPhone. Read all about that great leap here. These demos also show that there are many different ways to put together hardware that enables this next-generation user interface.

The hardware research is exciting as it is varied. But the magic pixie dust that will make all this happen is the user interface and operating system, with an ecosystem of developers and third party hardware and software makers to support it. You know, that thing Microsoft does for a living.

Windows Vista, which currently powers the TouchWall demo, is horribly flawed, and largely unpopular with users. Meanwhile, I believe Apple is plotting a market takeover with a next-generation UI touch-screen computer — basically a giant iPhone that replaces the Mac line — that could see the light of day within two years.

Apple has to build the hardware, but Microsoft doesn’t. I don’t understand why Microsoft spends so much time, effort and money building hardware systems like Surface and TouchWall while its operating system business is in such dangerous disarray.

 

Mike Elgan at ComputerWorld summed it up with the title ‘Bill Gates shows CEOs how to waste research money’, and pretty much hit the nail squarely. The thing is, this was shown as something new, when, as anyone above the level of cretin should know, it is a variation on the ‘Surface’ theme.

Perhaps touch is the next big thing, but it will take software that works correctly to run - there’s the rub.

Video presentation here

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[tags] Microsoft, Bill Gates, TouchWall, demonstration, Vista [/tags]