Yes, I think so. Give it the time to mature. ;) The same is happening with the handwriting recognition. It’s becoming better ad better in each Windows release.

Somebody said that the Tablet PC future was guaranteed because we learned to use a pencil before we learned to use a keyboard.

But that’s a silly saying just being used to try to justify somebody’s point of view.

We also learned to crawl before we learned to walk, so is crawling a better means of getting from point A to point B than walking? I’d argue that’s only true in limited circumstances (in air ducts or when under gunfire).

We also learned to speak before we learned to write, so is the future of speech interfaces guaranteed? Again, I think those are only useful in circumstances where nobody else is talking or the computer can pick your voice out correctly (you don’t want the computer executing commands spoken by other people) and where you are allowed to talk at will (forget libraries or courtrooms, for example).

Touch certainly has a place, but I don’t think it’s ideal for everything. For example, it’s probably not as good for drawing as a stylus/pen. It also requires you to make interactive elements (like buttons or sliders) larger to allow larger fingers to hit them better. For example, I often have to try two or three times to hit the OK button on my Samsung Omnia because it’s so small.

Why is that bad? Well, making the OK button larger makes the entire title bar larger, thus reducing the amount of information being displayed in the important part of the application. That requires more scrolling (or, as on the Omnia, a taller display). More scrolling means it takes me longer to read something than I otherwise would have.

Is that time wasted more or less than the time wasted getting the stylus out? It probably depends on the circumstances, but I can envision scenarios when touch actually wastes more time than a stylus input system.

Steve