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Comment by yaix | Hacker News Reader

Why would you have your finger pressed to the screen for 5 minutes?

Asuming that the number of notebook style PCs continues to rise, your fingers, when on the keyboard are actually pretty close to the screen, often closer than they are to the mouse. So you would just move your have foreward some 10 or 20 cm and every once in a while.

To touch on a cell in Excel or mark a couple of words in a text processor. Maybe use two fingers when in Photoshop or AutoCAD. Well, for the later maybe a mouse is necessary, but that's what W7 will be around for for quite a while.

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The point is, having to stick your arm out to touch the screen over and over or for an extended period of time is an ergonomic nightmare.

Do you have any studies to base than on? Because I believe the opposite.

The mouse is a nightmare: First you have to find it on your desk or whereever you happen to work. Then, you have to focus on the screen and try to find that tiny little arrow. Finally, you have to coordinate movement of the mouse and arrow to click somewhere.

We are very used to it now, but it's a nightmare anyhow.

I don't even start about the trackpad!

How much easier to just stick your finger out, you don't even need to divert your eye's attention from the screen. Its natural. It fast. And your and fall instantly back onto the keyboard.

Where exactly are you moving your mouse that you need to take your eyes off the screen in order to find it?

Anyway, point & click scenarios can be argued. Click and drag scenarios are where touchscreens fail entirely in their current implementations. At least on my tablet, it requires me to long press, drag, long press again, and press copy. Minimum of 5 seconds with some practice to copy some text. With a mouse and a left hand on my home keys, I can copy text in under a second.

Give it some time, touch is only a few years old. Dragging definitely needs to be improved, no question.

I don't need to take the eyes of the screen, but maybe I am not the everage user. If you take a look at how less tech oriented people use a PC, a touch interface would definitely be a plus, though. Its like stylus against finger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-THdG5gVTw

The problem of arm fatigue with vertical touchscreens is not a new thing. It's old enough to have an entry in the Jargon File: http://catb.org/jargon/html/G/gorilla-arm.html

You make using a mouse sound an order of magnitude harder than it actually is. It's not a nightmare at all, and plus, your arm is resting on the desk like with what you're already used to. Think about eating dinner, or writing a note.

In addition to that, using your finger is not nearly as accurate as that "tiny little arrow" (which is of adequate size), and it obstructs your view of what you're pointing at. Touch screens are only good for big, bulky, simple UI.

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