Comments on: The Mouse is Dead! Long Live Touch! http://www.somagames.com/somaniloquy/2010/07/10/the-mouse-is-dead-long-live-touch/ Terribiliter Magnificasti Me Mirabilia Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:00:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Cryptopur http://www.somagames.com/somaniloquy/2010/07/10/the-mouse-is-dead-long-live-touch/comment-page-1/#comment-623 Cryptopur Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:34:20 +0000 http://www.somagames.com/somaniloquy/?p=184#comment-623 Alas - to play SC2 via touch...I think I wet myself just thinking about it. :) Alas – to play SC2 via touch…I think I wet myself just thinking about it. :)

]]> By: John http://www.somagames.com/somaniloquy/2010/07/10/the-mouse-is-dead-long-live-touch/comment-page-1/#comment-622 John Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:01:17 +0000 http://www.somagames.com/somaniloquy/?p=184#comment-622 While I think that touch is and will continue to be a revolutionary change in the way we interact with computers, I think there's something to be said for the more ancient - and more universally understood - tools like the pencil. Man has been drawing with sticks since the dawn of time, so it's completely natural for someone to pick up a stick (or stylus) and attempt to draw/write with it. Even though the stick in that example is really just a placeholder for a finger, cultures worldwide have grown up with the concept of the writing stick in some form or another. One might even argue that we've embraced the concept so completely, that we are naturally more proficient with them than with our fingers. Not that amazing works of art cannot be accomplished with fingers and touch (some of that iPad art is amazing!), but I think you'd be hard pressed to reproduce Mona Lisa levels of quality, for example, with a touch interface and a computer. Not only do you lose the super-fine detail control, but the texture and tactile qualities are also lost. Perhaps this is simply because the touch interface and apps that use them are relatively young. Perhaps as software matures and better intuits a user's intent, as new display technologies are invented, these will no longer be a problem. For now though, I think it's a little early to crown touch as the king of interface. Also, you totally couldn't do StarCraft 2 with a touch interface. Just sayin'. :) While I think that touch is and will continue to be a revolutionary change in the way we interact with computers, I think there’s something to be said for the more ancient – and more universally understood – tools like the pencil. Man has been drawing with sticks since the dawn of time, so it’s completely natural for someone to pick up a stick (or stylus) and attempt to draw/write with it. Even though the stick in that example is really just a placeholder for a finger, cultures worldwide have grown up with the concept of the writing stick in some form or another. One might even argue that we’ve embraced the concept so completely, that we are naturally more proficient with them than with our fingers.

Not that amazing works of art cannot be accomplished with fingers and touch (some of that iPad art is amazing!), but I think you’d be hard pressed to reproduce Mona Lisa levels of quality, for example, with a touch interface and a computer. Not only do you lose the super-fine detail control, but the texture and tactile qualities are also lost.

Perhaps this is simply because the touch interface and apps that use them are relatively young. Perhaps as software matures and better intuits a user’s intent, as new display technologies are invented, these will no longer be a problem. For now though, I think it’s a little early to crown touch as the king of interface.

Also, you totally couldn’t do StarCraft 2 with a touch interface. Just sayin’. :)

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