After hearing a bit about the upcoming Windows 8...

[persia]

We are moving to a touch world, your average monitor in a year or two will be touch sensitive.  People will go back and forth between keyboard/touchpad(or mouse) and the touchscreen.  

The average person couldn't care less about file names, they may want all the photos of uncle joe and aunt jane but they don't want a directory structure to deal with.  The question isn't getting the file name right, the question is getting the metadata right so that you can find what you are looking for quickly and efficiently.  The average user has tens of thousands of photos, music files and videos.  I can see a time when iTunes and iPhoto like programs are a part of the OS.  You touch a picture of Uncle Joe and get all his photos.  Or your computer acts like Pandora and you play a song and ask it to play all the other songs that are similar to it.

[persia]

Be interesting to see what consumers actually buy.  Both Apple and MS are converging on a world where desktops will have touch.  There are times when I just want to do away with the indirection of a magic pad and touch the screen directly.  But there are differences, tablets have one screen of know dimensions, desktops have two or more screens usually of different dimensions, it could get complicated...

Computer users want touch monitors as much as they want 3D TV, as in, they don't. This is just tech companies forcing things on the consumer.

I'm all for touch on phones/pads, but I don't think many people want greasy finger prints and arm ache on a large size stand up monitor.

[persia]

Ooooooooooo shiny things.  Must have now.

Actually that's what got me started with the Amiga.

[persia]

Did I say "or" anywhere in my message.  It's strictly an "and."  90% or more of the time you'll want to use a magic pad or an old fashion mouse, but there are just times when it would be so much easier to just touch the screen to do something, especially in photoshop.  If iOS and OS X really are converging then a touch interface for the iOS programs is really necessary...

Totally disagree, as Steve Jobs said last year when he showed the new Macbook Airs, Apple won't do a touchscreen laptop/desktop because your arms ache after a few minutes.

Having used an HP touchscreen machine for a few hours, I can agree, who wants to sit there with your arms stretched out like a zombie all day, especially at work.

Touch is great on tablets/mobiles, it won't reach the desktop though.