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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Microsoft’s 'Manual Deskterity' Enhances User Touchscreen Experience (w/ Video)

by John Messina
from http://www.physorg.com/

Microsoft’s 'Manual Deskterity' Enhances User Touchscreen  Experience (w/ Video)

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Microsoft’s “Manual Deskterity” adds power and a more natural user experience to the tablet PC.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Microsoft's "Manual Deskterity" combines touch and pen for a more natural user experience working with Microsoft Surface (tabletop touchscreen) and newer versions of Windows 7 tablet.


Microsoft’s aims are to combine pen and multi-touch input into a more natural . For example, moving papers around on your desk and jotting notes on them, and then dropping them into folders for filing. The pen input is great for certain tasks, but not others; the same holds true for touch.

’s new exhibits many interesting features when combining the pen and touch interaction on the . Take for instance, if a user wanted to copy an object, they can do so by holding it down with one hand and dragging the pen across the image to peel off a new one and place it anywhere on the desk.

The above video demonstrates many user interface techniques that would have to be learned to fully utilize all the features incorporated into “Manual Deskterity”. Microsoft believes that the natural user interface will ease the learning process and prevent users from trying to remember a sequence of commands or menu operations.

Microsoft’s Bill Buxton explains what the Natural User Interface is all about, in the above video.

Microsoft’s researchers have arrived at the following perspective: the pen writes, touch manipulates, and the combination of both yields new tools.

Microsoft’s 'Manual Deskterity' Enhances User Touchscreen  Experience (w/ Video)
Enlarge

Pen writes, touch manipulates.

Microsoft’s 'Manual Deskterity' Enhances User Touchscreen  Experience (w/ Video)
Enlarge

Pen plus touch equals new set of tools.

By combining the two, Microsoft researchers are working on a whole new variety of tools for interacting with your computer. There are also plans to adapt this user interface to work on .
© 2010 PhysOrg.com

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