Win 8 on desktop with touch screen

[lifeblood]

Anyone here use Windows 8 on a desktop PC with a touch screen? I think touch screens would be wasted on a regular desktop because the screen is too far away for it to be useful. Looking at how I use my desktop I just don't see myself reaching up to touch the screen except for very specific (rarely used) apps. However, I don't have touch screens so I don't really know. Does anyone here have them? How does it work? Is their a specific app that you use them with or just use them on all apps? How/why would you use a touch screen in Word?

 

[Chiropteran]

I hate fingerprints on my monitor. A touchscreen desktop seems like a terrible idea with that in mind. Mouse is the superior UI tool IMO, touchscreens only make sense when you don't have the right environment for effective mousing.

 

[lifeblood]

I hate fingerprints on my monitor. A touchscreen desktop seems like a terrible idea with that in mind. Mouse is the superior UI tool IMO, touchscreens only make sense when you don't have the right environment for effective mousing.

I agree, but I might be wrong. Thats why I want to see if anyone is actually doing it and what they think.

Given the lack of response it doesn't look like anyone does. That's not surprising as the touch screens I've seen advertised are expensive. If I'm going to spend that much, I'm going to go for a bigger monitor, not a touch screen.

 

[lxskllr]

Touchscreens could be nice for niche applications, but most people won't have a use for them.

 

[Arkaign]

Touchscreens are ideal for casual use, content consumption devices, but insane for prolonged productivity (ie; business).

Strangely, I think Microsoft is either ignoring, or simply not far enough along in development for using improved webcams for gesture-based interface improvements, a la Kinect. But dragging your fingers all over your desktop screen for 8 hours at a time at work is ... just no.

A big barrier is the tens of trillions of hours the collective business world has already invested in getting people to be productive and efficient with using a keyboard and mouse and familiar interfaces for interaction and production.

Sit down typical person in cubicle. Give them Windows 7 + Office + Acrobat. Tell them type this document, use these sources, make a PDF with fields, and then make a spreadsheet with some of that data. It's not too hard to get this done. Take same person, give them Windows 8 + touchscreen, and watch how if anything, efficiency plummets. Metro is the enemy of simple multitasking and efficiency for business use.

For mobile devices, I don't see that much of an issue. It's relatively hard, even with a BT keyboard, to get serious work done on an iPad or Nexus tablet in the same efficient manner as a desktop user with kb/mouse/typical 20-22" widescreen. You can't honestly compare the experience of being able to easily open and switch between dozens of apps/tabs/docs quickly in an efficient manner, and having full-screen apps/interface slowing your progress.

 

[chucky2]

My mom has a Fujitsu T5010 tablet PC (13.3" screen). Need to use the pen on it though, won't work with just bare hands.

I put Windows 8 Pro on it (forgetting that one needed to use the pen) and have tried it out. Pretending that the pen is just my finger...

...the touch aspect is pretty useless.

Reason being, say you launch IE via touch. Great! Now what? You still need to type. You still need to navigate the web page. You still need to click on links, etc. etc. So you're still going back to the keyboard, and, if you're back on the keyboard you have the touchpad right there rather than reaching up time and time again and having to accurately click on the screen.

Using the screen looks cool on a notebook (or PC), but because they don't have the limitations of phones and tablets (the ones that solely use an onscreen keyboard), there is a far more superior option to use: The standard keyboard and mouse/touchpad.

Chuck