Novelty watch: Windows 7 and Surface

Microsoft gave the world a peak at what their next OS, Windows 7, would look like at the All Things D conference. On the heels of Surface and it's multi-touch input, Microsoft decided to bring the technology to consumers sooner by adding it to 7.


Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Never mind how single-touch a la tablets flopped, the applications for dual-touch are even more limited. Most are at best nifty, but one of these novelties is so bad, it reverses years of advancements: the multi-touch photo browser. Not only does the photo browser let users circumvent a selling point of technology and disorganize their photos, it offers only marginal benefits over a stack of photos on a coffee table.

Which brings us back to Surface, which I admit is quite nifty.