Win 8

[Sidoh]

I can't think of another time it's useful.

Sorry, I don't mean to come off as such a fanboi. I'm just thoroughly impressed by the trackpad.

[deadly7]

Your normal use of a trackpad must be super derpy if you trigger gestures with normal use. ;p

The rotate gesture in particular is quite intuitive. It's quite a bit like the motion you'd make to rotate a photo if it was sitting in front of you. I didn't say any of the other gestures were intuitive, if you'll notice. They're easy to remember and use after forcing yourself to use them for two minutes, though, which is why I like them.

Lol I despise trackpads. Actually, I vehemently hate everything about laptops except that I can move them around. Too uncomfortable a keyboard (I love my split ergonomic keyboard), shitty built in mouse (I like real mice, fuck even a ball mouse beats a trackpad), and awkward screen location.

Anyway, in rereading your post you didn't say that. But I know plenty of idiots (and I'll wager so do you) who swear by the Cult of the Artist Formerly Known as Jobs and would say everything that Apple does is "intuitive".

[iago]

I'm always popping things up by accident when I try to use an Apple trackpad. I imagine it would just take getting used to knowing where not to touch it, though.

I have a Logitech MX. It has 4 or 5 buttons, but I don't use them (they aren't even mapped to anything). I just use the weighted 2d scrollwheel and the three standard buttons.

[Sidoh]

Your normal use of a trackpad must be super derpy if you trigger gestures with normal use. ;p

The rotate gesture in particular is quite intuitive. It's quite a bit like the motion you'd make to rotate a photo if it was sitting in front of you. I didn't say any of the other gestures were intuitive, if you'll notice. They're easy to remember and use after forcing yourself to use them for two minutes, though, which is why I like them.

Lol I despise trackpads. Actually, I vehemently hate everything about laptops except that I can move them around. Too uncomfortable a keyboard (I love my split ergonomic keyboard), shitty built in mouse (I like real mice, fuck even a ball mouse beats a trackpad), and awkward screen location.

Anyway, in rereading your post you didn't say that. But I know plenty of idiots (and I'll wager so do you) who swear by the Cult of the Artist Formerly Known as Jobs and would say everything that Apple does is "intuitive".

I've been stuck without a desktop for several years, and I don't really miss anything but dual monitors. There are a few things for which I'd rather use a mouse, but the preference isn't that strong, and for everything else, I think I have a slight preference for a trackpad. For most programming-intensive things I do, I don't touch the mouse, so it doesn't really make a difference.

I definitely don't think everything Apple does is intuitive. I think that Apple's design decisions tend to be more intuitive than their competition, but I don't mean to say there isn't plenty of room for improvement.

Apple makes solid products. I've tried the alternatives. Maybe I was unlucky, or maybe things have gotten better since the last time I've owned a PC, but I'm extremely pleased with my macbook, and I don't think any PC alternative will do anything to improve my laptop-ridden life.

[Newby]

Your normal use of a trackpad must be super derpy if you trigger gestures with normal use. ;p

The rotate gesture in particular is quite intuitive. It's quite a bit like the motion you'd make to rotate a photo if it was sitting in front of you. I didn't say any of the other gestures were intuitive, if you'll notice. They're easy to remember and use after forcing yourself to use them for two minutes, though, which is why I like them.

Other than rotating a photo... what's the point of the rotating mechanism?

Rotating a PDF! (That's how I discovered the rotate gesture.)

[nslay]

Why a trackpad or mouse, why not use Microsoft's Kinect technology and do some eye tracking?

Left wink = left click
right wink = right click
eye position = mouse cursor.

Imagine looking at a window and left-winking for focus! Scrolling could be automated by detecting reading eyes (would be an interesting learning problem).

Though, like the touchpad touch screen, it's probably not practical.

EDIT: I meant touch screen. Touchpads are obviously practical.

[Sidoh]

hahahahahaha.  I'm imagining someone using a wink-based interface.

If I were a badass hacker in a world where this existed, I'd write a virus that made the computer say "Are you coming onto me?" in TTS.