Steven Sinofsky breaks down a series of improvements to Windows 7 RC that have been made over the beta. Most appear to be small tweaks, but some will still have significant impact on how we use Windows 7.
In terms of touch, the changes are:
“Touch
11. Aero Peek for touch
We’re excited about Peek and we further refined its functionality. Our touch customers enjoy the benefits of direct manipulation, but inform us they feel left out of some of new functionality that’s available for the mouse and keyboard. We’ve made two improvements that spreads the love. First, the taskbar’s thumbnails now support a touch gesture so one can drag her finger across the UI and trigger Aero Peek. Also, the Show Desktop button is improved so a press-and-hold will allow the customer to peek at the desktop. A regular tap in both these scenarios still to commits the switch.
12. Multi-touch touch keyboard
A funny thing happens when one uses touch to interact with a software keyboard for the first time. The natural instinct is to press multiple buttons simultaneously like they do with a real keyboard. It’s quite reasonable to try to use SHIFT + to capitalize, for example. RC ushers in multi-touch support for the Touch Keyboard so that customers enjoy a more realistic experience.
13. Multi-touch right-click
People who are rely on touch give us mixed feelings towards tap and hold to bring up a context menu. This approach works, but it also involves a slight delay. We now have a fast new multi-touch gesture for right-click. Simply touch an item with one finger and use another finger to tap and summon a context menu.
14. Drag/Drop and selection
In Beta there was no discoverable way to select text in a website that scrolled both horizontally and vertically. Customers are now able to drag/drop and select items with touch, even inside scrolling pages. The new behavior is optimized for the two most common actions by touch customers—scrolling up and down and dragging left to right.”
It’s great to see that multi-touch has made its way to the onscreen keyboard :-). I’m hoping it’s for all keys. Fingers crossed. Hmmm.
I also like the tweak to the taskbar which facilitates the Aero Peek feature when sliding a touch point across the taskbar icons. This was another no-brainer that’s going to get used a lot I imagine.
Multi-touch right click is also going to be a winner. I’m glad Microsoft decided to make this change now, because it’s going to impact ISV development and driver support for good experiences. How? We’ll need to see how this feature works in terms of Microsoft’s default specs so that other pin and tap multi-touch gestures do not conflict with this one. This wise and important change points out what I’ve been blogging for awhile, that there’s little time in this Windows 7 beta to give great multi-touch feedback not just for users for developers–in part because there are great multi-touch drivers available yet. Effective UIs are limited by some mediocre beta drivers and as ISVs and Microsoft evolve their set of features we need to have a great experience not just for today’s so-so drivers, but that enable great multi-touch experiences when the dust settles. My take? Microsoft waited too long in the Windows 7 development cycle to engage people here. Nothing’s alleviated my concern so far. Time to get off my war torn soap box.
So anything Microsoft missed that’s on your list? Yeah, mine too. But that’s the way it goes. If you ask me, since Microsoft is working with a compressed beta cycle here and with limited user feedback, I’d rather not see many changes at this point anyway. Too risky to mess things up. Microsoft has had its chance–what, about two years to get to this spot–let’s not rush things now with a handful of months to go. What a mess we could have.
Besides, think about how our use of Windows changes so rapidly with changes in hardware. Looking back, Centrino made a huge change in my use of Tablet PCs and wireless connectivity. Huge. It ushered in the practical age of notebooks for the mass market. Likewise, Netbooks are blasting apart all the retail “common sense” about what notebooks should be like and what features they should or shouldn’t have. The first Tablet PCs could not convince the market otherwise. The Netbooks have. Users are demanding it. And it’s not only the notebook hardware that’s impacting Windows. There’s this little thing called the iPhone and it’s having a huge impact on how we think of interacting with the web from more than just a notebook or desktop.
These changes took place over the last five years or so. Three major pivot points. Point is we can expect another pivot point in the coming year or two. Will it be around MIDs? An Apple “Tablet?” New eBook Readers? New digital still/video cameras? Interaction with wall or surface-sized displays? The seeds have been sown in each of these areas. It could be others.
My bet is still with Intel. Intel often has systemic influences with the market. And since Intel does a great job of telegraphing its development story, I’d say there are three areas to look in that will most likely influence users and the market and hence how we use Windows 7 and whether it’s been done “right.”
My first guess is with the next versions of the Atom processor. Fanless designs will now become more feasible. This means thinner, smaller, lighter devices. Speed is going to be sacrificed though. So this is still going to give Linux permutations–and focused Apple-engineering–an edge over Windows 7. This is going to keep Microsoft’s on the hotseat for awhile. Will Windows Embedded, Mobile, or one of its other permutations be used as a temporary fix? Windows 7 appears to be doing pretty well with Netbooks–let’s see where things go from here as touch and multi-touch are added to this market segment. Will Windows 7 shine even more or will the current features be off the mark? This should be quite interesting as it plays out.
Second, Intel has been pushing very hard in enabling PCs for the “next billion users.” Part of this effort requires lowering prices. Microsoft is trying to figure out what to do here–unfortunately at the same time its tying its hands with “premium” features that make huge sense for these markets. Will Intel and possibly Google too win out and duplicate the key features needed thereby devaluing what Microsoft is wanting to keep premium (such as touch, handwriting, etc)? My bet here is that Microsoft wins on this one for now, but it’s a risk to the game plan that Microsoft has set out for itself.
And lastly, the age of multi-core processing is here. For desktop systems, in particular, we’re going to see some amazing innovation–particularly if the development tools keep up with the hardware. Fortunately, it looks like Microsoft is on track here. From some of the PDC prototypes shown of C# in particular, it looks like Microsoft and Intel on synchronized. Same goes with tweaks to the OS. Of course, fewer and fewer people are going to have these higher end systems for now, but for those that do, I expect we’ll see a 10x change in enabling less expensive tools for freelancers, small businesses, and professionals to do some amazing things. Imaging and graphics are the two areas I have me eyes focused on. Again, I think Microsoft is on an acceptable path.
Oh, why haven’t I talked more about what’s going online and how that will influence Windows 7? I could have, but I wanted to focus for now on the impact hardware can have on how we as user perceive the success or failure of an OS. Vista was unfortunately timed during the transition to notebooks. It’s a great desktop OS. So-so for notebooks. The market spoke. Loudly. Windows 7 is a step in the right direction in this regard. Now let’s see if Microsoft can keep it up.