Will Leap Motion save Windows 8?

[mitchellvii]

The problem with touch monitors is that the user has to reach all the way out and drag their fingers across the screen. That is a lot of effort and the screen gets all funky pretty fast. Also, you can't see beneath your fat fingertips to exactly what you are touching.

With Leap you almost have a sort of "god" experience where you wave your hands and the magic happens. There is a real gee whiz going on there that you don't feel with touch. Also, based upon what I have seen, you can touch far more exactly since your fingers create a pinpoint cursor on the screen.

We'll see.

 

[J515OP]

The problem with touch monitors is that the user has to reach all the way out and drag their fingers across the screen. That is a lot of effort and the screen gets all funky pretty fast. Also, you can't see beneath your fat fingertips to exactly what you are touching.

With Leap you almost have a sort of "god" experience where you wave your hands and the magic happens. There is a real gee whiz going on there that you don't feel with touch. Also, based upon what I have seen, you can touch far more exactly since your fingers create a pinpoint cursor on the screen.

We'll see.

I'll disagree with this too. Touch is special and many people relish the tactile feed back. Just look at qwerty phones and type vs touch cover debates. Furthermore try holding your hands out over your keyboard or mouse and hovering them there. LM has the same inherent problems as touch screens. At least with keyboards and mice you can rest your arms on your lap (laptop typing), chair arms or desk. Holding your hand in the air is not going to be ideal.

Edit: Just look to your own experiences using the slippery stylus nib on glass and think about moving those gestures to the air with absolutely no resistance or physical feedback. All forms of input will have their place but gesture control isn't likely to dominate overnight.

 

[DOS]

The way I see it ...

Touch will always be reserved for the small form factor devices such as phones and tablets. Kinetic gestures just won't work properly here.

Kinetic gestures will be reserved for large screen devices, like TVs and projectors. Touch just won't work properly here.

Nothing will ever replace the keyboard and detailed pointing device (like a mouse or pen) for high level programs like spreadsheets, publishing, and the like.

Fun Fact: You can type the phrase "type writer" by using only the top row of characters on the keyboard.
(you can also type "poop" but that serves no purpose.)

Well, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong...

 

[tonyz3]

have a sort of "god" experience .

I knew there had to be some other reason.

 

[pallentx]

Will Microsoft kill Leap Motion before they even release a working product? Microsoft says new Kinect for Windows launching next year | The Verge

 

[mitchellvii]

Will Microsoft kill Leap Motion before they even release a working product? Microsoft says new Kinect for Windows launching next year | The Verge

Leap Motion is launching in the next month or so. That will give them a significant lead on anything from MS. Also, knowing MS their product will be overpriced and look great but have mediocre performance. In addition it will come with a complicated new OS no one understands and no instruction manual. Their commercials will have lot of dancing hipsters but there will be hardly any product available on launch day. Any difficulties users experience will be the user's fault because they don't "get it".

MS is also promising lots of updates which will render the device unusable.

Regardless, this only goes to show my original point that "gesture" as opposed to "touch" computing is the future.

 

[J515OP]

Oh come on now. You realize kinect was out before Leap Motion and MS has the lead here. This will be generation 2 and the initial hardware was already deemed great and is in about the same price range as leap motion. I suspect these will be for different purposes and used in different ways though despite both being motion controllers.

Leap motion has been delayed numerous times so there is a high likely hood it could be delayed again and a good chance the price will go up a little as well. Commercials for kinect? It was such a huge hit the first time word of mouth was enough and they didn't need any. It came out as a game accessory but quickly went beyond that. As well as it sold there is still a very long way to go before there is one on every desk

 

[DOS]

JP is right Mitch, the Kinect technology has been out for some time now and is proven; it also incorporates voice response as well. Leap Motion’s device, although it shows potential, has been cursed with delay after delay. As has been shown in this forum, their potential customer base is losing confidence in them.

They need to get this device to market ASAP.

 

[Arizona Willie]

The Leap was first supposed to ship last Fall, then it was pushed back to this May then it was pushed back to late June.
I hope they do succeed, but I have grave doubts.
They kept promising videos of the Leap working in Windows 8 but did not deliver until recently and that video did not show manipulating file menus or doing actual work in Office programs or any other Windows program.
It basically just once again showed it in a game situation and flipping the screens.
They have relied on volunteer -- wannabe -- programmers and I think that may have been a fatal mistake.
I believe that a name gaming company or Microsoft itself has talented programmers who could have done the job.
The volunteer programmers may eventually get it done, but the track history removes all optimism.

Leap Motion is launching in the next month or so. That will give them a significant lead on anything from MS. Also, knowing MS their product will be overpriced and look great but have mediocre performance. In addition it will come with a complicated new OS no one understands and no instruction manual. Their commercials will have lot of dancing hipsters but there will be hardly any product available on launch day. Any difficulties users experience will be the user's fault because they don't "get it".

MS is also promising lots of updates which will render the device unusable.

Regardless, this only goes to show my original point that "gesture" as opposed to "touch" computing is the future.

 

[mitchellvii]

Oh come on now. You realize kinect was out before Leap Motion and MS has the lead here. This will be generation 2 and the initial hardware was already deemed great and is in about the same price range as leap motion. I suspect these will be for different purposes and used in different ways though despite both being motion controllers.

Leap motion has been delayed numerous times so there is a high likely hood it could be delayed again and a good chance the price will go up a little as well. Commercials for kinect? It was such a huge hit the first time word of mouth was enough and they didn't need any. It came out as a game accessory but quickly went beyond that. As well as it sold there is still a very long way to go before there is one on every desk

Oh come on, you just know Microsoft will find a way to screw it up. They are always late to the party. Reviews I've been reading on the xBox One have been less than glowing. Apparently it rocks unless you want to just play games. Has MS ever released anything on their original schedule?

 

[J515OP]

Oh come on, you just know Microsoft will find a way to screw it up. They are always late to the party. Reviews I've been reading on the xBox One have been less than glowing. Apparently it rocks unless you want to just play games. Has MS ever released anything on their original schedule?

I agree they could mess it up. The cool thing about kinect though is ms just made the core software and hardware and have left the rest to the developers. This has led to great things like 3d video chat through kinect. Developers has a great start with the platform and that is good news for MS and for all of s

 

[mitchellvii]

I agree they could mess it up. The cool thing about kinect though is ms just made the core software and hardware and have left the rest to the developers. This has led to great things like 3d video chat through kinect. Developers has a great start with the platform and that is good news for MS and for all of s

I'm not anti-Kinect. MS just has a bad habit of being late to the market and then having the product full of bugs when it gets there. IMHO, this is due to their preference for a silo development cycle where different departments work on the pieces then they try pasting it together at the end. If you have ever coded much in Office, you know what I am talking about. Considering they are both part of the same "Office Suite" coding for Access is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than coding for Word. Making them work seamlessly together has always been an adventure requiring lots of customization to achieve something that should have worked out of the box for a true Office Suite.

MS seems to "almost get there" with so many products. For instance, the new xBox One shows a lot of promise and is quite similar to the new Playstation - except for some bizarre reason, MS chose to use antiquated GDDR3 graphics memory compared to GDDR5 on the Playstation. Some are saying this will give the Playstation 50% more graphics punch. Huh? Why MS why?

I guess the thing that annoys me the most about MS is the tendency fumble on the 1 yard line.

We'll see how Kinect turns out.

** Makes you wonder how computing will be 10 years from now. Especially since they have now developed lasers which can project solid 3D images into thin air by exciting oxygen molecules. Can you imagine projecting a 27 inch holographic screen into thin air in front of you from your cell phone and manipulating the whole thing with gestures? It will be here sooner than you think.

We will need new legislation to prevent advertisers from projecting ads into the sky and driving us nuts.