this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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It never would have had the Fidelity or capability to be useful in any meaningful way though. Apple just made interesting stuff. IBM had touchscreen Windows machines in 1995, but nobody would bother writing an article about that because it's useless and boring.
IBM also made the 'Simon' as the first Smartphone in the early 90's, but it was terrible. Apple Newton as well. There's a reason things don't become commercially viable, though they are near.
Dude, watch the video. This wasn’t done by Apple. It was modded by ELO, a company which is still around today. They made it for shopping centre payment stations and other similar use cases. And frankly, from the looks of it in the video, it worked just as well as they do today (which is to say mediocre at best).
Resistance touchscreens have been around for a long time.
Capacitive touchscreens weren't commercially viable until the early-mid 00s. Apple literally stole the UI and design patterns from other companies to do their stuff. E.G. See the money they still pay to Creative Labs.
Touch screen computers also don’t make sense ergonomically. There’s a lot more arm and hand movement on a touchscreen compared to even a mouse, so you’ll get tired quicker.
This is why fast food cashiers are passing out constantly. Moving your arms around is just too tiring.
The difference in ergonomics between sitting at a desk and reaching up vs. standing over a display and tapping down are quite different.
I see a lot of people online saying this kind of thing, though I gotta wonder if it's mostly old people who can't adapt new paradigms.
I would never buy a computer without touch anymore. The thing the ergonomics argument misses is just because you have touch doesn't mean you can't use a mouse (or touchpad) also when it makes more sense. Tiredness is never an issue for me.
There are some things that are just infinitely more natural with touch, using an electronic device that lacks touch just feels like using incredibly outdated technology to me now.
The headline is more breathless than the story (what else is new?).
The prototype was put together by ELO, an Apple value added reseller focused on informational and ordering kiosks. No one would have expected this to be usable for general PC stuff.