Windows 7 drops the mouse
via Computer and Video Games
Microsoft has claimed its next operating system will be released with multi-touch features as an alternative to the good old mouse.
The new input method will allow users to enlarge and shrink photos, trace routes on maps, paint pictures or play the piano.
A similar multi-touch product called Microsoft Surface was unveiled last year and debuted in AT&T stores in April. It was essentially a Windows PC in a coffee table sized container, and the surface was a screen that could be manipulated by touching it.
It now seems that Microsoft is taking the technology and applying it to the home market. Speaking at the All Things Digital conference in San Diego, Chief executive Steve Ballmer described a demo of the product as "a small snippet" of the next version of Windows, after admitting he wants "to do better" than Vista.
Windows 7 is scheduled for release in 2010.
