#Arc touch mouse windows 7 how to#
#Arc touch mouse windows 7 Pc#
#Arc touch mouse windows 7 windows 7#

Microsoft Hardware’s portfolio of touch products, including the Arc Touch Mouse that flattens for portability, aim to bring multi-touch computing to millions of Windows 7 users.Īfter careful consideration of the technological tradeoffs, the team decided on the capacitive-sensing model because it allowed for multi-touch gestures without abandoning the familiar mouse shape. They ended up with five different research prototypes representing different types of multi-touch sensors: camera-based articulated, meaning they stitched together three mouse sensors and capacitive, which have functionality similar to a laptop’s track pad. The team initially explored a wide range of technologies and interaction models, relying heavily on user feedback. “We wanted to bring these rich new interactions to the desktop without losing the tried and true mouse.”

#Arc touch mouse windows 7 how to#

“We were looking at how to merge the excitement of the multi-touch gestures that were just starting to infiltrate computing devices with the flexibility and control of the mouse, which essentially has been optimized for two-plus decades,” Benko said. Their goal was to combine the standard capabilities of a mouse with multi-touch sensing.

The product evolved from the Mouse 2.0 project, a joint effort started in 2008 by Microsoft Research teams in Redmond and Cambridge and the Applied Sciences Group from Microsoft Hardware. Hidden inside the Touch Mouse’s deceptively simple design is more than two years of cross-company research. The newly announced Touch Mouse Artist Edition features a design created by New York-based artist Deanne Cheuk.

Three fingers allow users to manage their whole desktop by switching between different tasks or clearing all open windows.Ī flick of the thumb allows users to move forward and back in programs such as Internet Explorer, PowerPoint, and Windows Photo Viewer. Two fingers allow them to manage the active window they’re using and perform tasks such as maximizing and minimizing windows or snapping them left or right. One finger allows users to scroll 360 degrees through the document they’re in. As shown in this video, users can navigate with Touch Mouse in a variety of ways: “The tasks you do every day – minimizing and maximizing windows, scrolling through Web pages – all that functionality is available right at the top of the mouse with a touch of a finger.” “This mouse is designed to optimize your experience with Windows 7,” he said. The Touch Mouse lets users do everything they’re used to doing with a mouse, such as point and click, but adds multi-touch functionality that helps them navigate Windows 7 easier and faster with a flick of their fingers, said Hrvoje Benko, a researcher with Microsoft Research (MSR) Redmond who helped develop the Touch Mouse.

#Arc touch mouse windows 7 Pc#

“We give you control of your PC that you can feel in your fingertips.” “This is the first time we’ve married the control and precision of a mouse with the interactivity that touch delivers on your PC,” he said. Now available online and in retail stores in late September, the new mouse offers the millions of people who use Windows 7 a natural way to navigate the operating system, said Scott Rockfeld, director of product management for Microsoft Hardware. The new Microsoft Touch Mouse combines the virtues of the old familiar mouse – which has been continually optimized since the 1960s – with multi-touch gestures. The Microsoft Touch Mouse combines multi-touch gestures with the pinpoint control of the humble mouse.