Why Did Touch Take 4 Decades to Catch On? 245
theodp writes "You probably saw media coverage of Bill Gates showing off touch-screen technology to his CEO play group last week. With the introduction of the iPhone and iPod Touch, touch (and multi-touch) technology — which folks like Ray Ozzie enjoyed as undergrads way back in the early '70s — has finally gone mainstream. The only question is: Why did it take four decades for its overnight success? Some suggest the expiration of significant patents filed during '70s and '80s may have had something to do with it — anything else?"
Re:For the same reason as the Wiimote. (Score:5, Funny)
Greasy.. (Score:5, Funny)
I swear no one had AC in the 80's.
Re:Not effective (at least to date) (Score:3, Funny)
Re:it didn't. touch never caught on. (Score:5, Funny)
KFC. Mucky, not clumsy. (Score:4, Funny)
Now you know why. this lower caps random characters are here merely to get around /.'s lame lameness filter that doesn't understand i used all the caps above to look like yelling because that is what anybody would be doing with a high priced bleeding edge touch screen and an umfriend with greasy kfc. what fools these admin mortals be.
Re:Because haptics is important. (Score:3, Funny)
I love the Poweglove... (Score:2, Funny)