Microsoft Windows 8 Split Keyboard UI
Today, at the All Things Digital D9 conference Microsoft demoed their next generation operating system Windows 8 for the first time. There actually are a lot of nice surprises to come there -- check out the video below for all the highlights.
What really stood out to me was this screenshot showing a split keyboard UI for tablet use. This is a great idea for people with big hands/penises.
With your thumbs and the close grouping of keys shown here, I bet you could really move on this thing. Right now I type like this on the iPad, but in portrait mode. It works, but it’s clumsy and strains your hands.
It’s also interesting to see Microsoft making so much progress on tablet UI. I think it was 1999 when I was at Comdex (now defunct but back then, a huge tech conference) and saw Microsoft demo their first tablets. Needless to say, those never worked very well.
Today things are different. Windows 8 actually looks really good. The product seems to take the best parts of many other Microsoft products like Xbox, Windows Phone and even the KIN. Together in concert, those previous efforts may have just rebooted the now iconic operating system.
The Video
