I have been trying to figure out how one could work with a touch screen doing the work I, and I presume most of us, do.
I'm having a rather difficult time seeing how it will be done. I don't see myself and most other fast typists go to on-screen keyboards. I have one on my phone and I would not like to have to use it in real life. So if we are still going to use a keyboard, the most logical way for me to position the screen would be at an angle in front of me. But that would mean I'd have to travel quite a distance with my arm from the keyboard to the screen. Much more than the short distance to the mouse. If the screen was flat on the desk, it would require me to bend over to see it properly, causing neck strain.
I use sensitive wireless optical mice on all my computers. In fact, I use the same type of mouse on all my computers, the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 4000. It has worked extremely well for me. I set the movement as fast as I can so I'm only moving the mouse about 1" to move the cursor across the monitor. This reduces strain on my wrists and since I started using those mice, I have had no problem with my wrists at all. I am concerned that using a touch screen, often at inconvenient angles, would cause strain on my wrists. I'd really hate to have to move my arm across my 25 and 26" monitors every time I wanted to move the cursor.
I like what I see about Windows 8 so far, but I don't think touch is practical for my work. I also don't think it's economical (it will slow me down) or ergonomic. I can see great use for touch in pads and phones, but I'm not seeing the practicality of it in desktop work. We will definitely see more and more pads in the very near future, but I think we will still be working with desktop computers for quite a while to come.
I recently saw a HP touch screen at Office Depot. One of the sales people showed it to me, and it looked great and was very cool. However, we were standing in front of it and the monitor was on a shelf, about 4.5 feet off the ground, so it was easy to access it. I don't see that position as being comfortable work position. It would not work for me at all because I have back problems that make standing for any extended periods of time quite painful.
I have used tablets for photography work and if the touch screens came with a good stylus and a decent resolution, that would definitely be an added bonus. But that would require that you could turn the touch off and only use the stylus as otherwise you would mess things up badly if you touched the screen, which would not work very well! I don't think I would feel comfortable with it flat on a desk and then having to bend over with my neck strained.
There are certainly times when I would like to have a touch monitor, but I think what I would do is I would have a small, 12-15" touch monitor flat on the desk and use it for stuff where I liked to use touch and then use a 2-3 large monitor setup for the rest of my work. Or - even preferably - have a pad that could double as an extra monitor. Now that would be COOL!:)
The verdict is far in the future. For now I'm just speculating and thinking out loud:)
Arnor Baldvinsson
