What my argument came down to was that the process of point-and-click was not as simple as that; in reality what you do is move-finger-on-touch-pad-which-moves-a-cursor-on-a-screen-to-where-you-want-to-click-and-click. Well no longer. Today heralds a new day for my interface with the computer - a touch screen laptop.
Touch screens are now so embedded into our lives, we barely think about them any more - the mobile industry has taken up the idea with gusto and now hardware buttons seem so archaic to the point of barbarity. The computing industry seems to be taken by surprise by this and has only just woken up to the notion that this may be a good idea.
The laptop in question is a Sony Vaio E14 with touch-screen running Windows 8. When ordering the laptop I was in two minds whether to spend the extra dosh on the, what seemed like, indulgence of being able to poke the screen but I figured I'd regret not getting it what with Windows 8 (which was compulsory) being geared towards the tablet acquainted consumer. So opt for the screen I did and my first impressions are positive; I've found myself barely using the touch pad and instead favoring the more natural poke-at-what-you-want approach.
My main gripes with the experience are mainly to do with becoming so accustomed to using a touch screen phone - many of the subtle gestures one uses on an Android phone are non existent on Windows 8. For example, to move an icon on a home screen on Android, one presses and holds the icon until it pops-up and then allows you to drag; the equivalent action on Windows 8, moving a tile on the Start screen requires you to press-hold-drag-up-drag-to-the-side which is not as intuitive I feel.
All in all Windows 8 works well with the more human human interface device and apart from the learning curve of getting used to the split user interface of having "Desktop" as an application in the new screen style formally known as Metro seems like a reasonably logical evolution of Windows 7.
