Windows 10 features new trackpad gestures straight from OS X

Scorpus

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With Windows 10, Microsoft will be adding in a range of new trackpad gestures that will make the operating system easier to use. The company's Joe Belfiore showed off some of the new gestures at his TechEd Europe keynote, stating that an update to the Windows 10 Technical Preview would make the gestures available to testers soon.

One of the main new gestures is swiping either up or down with three fingers, which will minimize or bring back all active windows. The three finger swipe up will also be used to reveal Windows 10's Task View, which neatly shows all active applications. Three finger swiping on the trackpad to the left or right will be used to move between applications.

All of these new gestures are essentially identical to those available in OS X. In Apple's OS, swiping up with three fingers reveals Mission Control, which looks very similar to the new Task View in Windows 10, while three finger swiping left and right switches between fullscreen applications. But hey, this wouldn't be the first time a feature from one company's OS has ended up in the other's.

Alongside the improved trackpad gestures, Microsoft is adding in new window snapping features that will work across multiple displays. Hovering apps in the center of the monitor will bring up a transparent snap window, and dragging to either side will then snap the application to that side of the monitor.

The new features are all part of Microsoft's increased focus on improving the experience for power users. If you're currently using the Windows 10 Technical Preview, look out for a new build soon (build 9865) that will allow you to test out these features for yourself.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/58601-windows-10-new-trackpad-gestures.html

 
Punkid said:
I know this wasnt a feature of the OS before, but its been there for ages with the drivers that come with trackpads.
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Yup, 3rd party software. And yet they make it seem like Apple came up with it...
 
I don't mind it being taken straight from OSX if that is the best way of doing stuff.
 
In the meantime, Windows 8.1 on the latest Macs still fails to provide the same responsiveness as OS-X does. In OS-X the touch-pad works perfectly, I never need to use a mouse, while in Windows it is quite slow and awkward without a mouse, and it is not the UI, it is the touch-pad drivers that suck.

Just a point of concern - whether MS will ever get it right with touch-pads.
 
Yes! This is great news as Apple has definitely done touchpad gesture controls (even if they did not originally create it) much better than any Windows device for some time now. Since I use both MBP and other laptops I find myself trying to use those multi-finger gestures everywhere.
 
This is crap, lets face it, touchpads or trackpads need to die soon, we have a better alternative in the market like leap motion, I also heard that MS is developing their own "leap motion" wich is a 16x4 sensors on the keyboard, there is also kinect wich needs to be shrunken.
 
Cocolio said:
This is crap, lets face it, touchpads or trackpads need to die soon, we have a better alternative in the market like leap motion, I also heard that MS is developing their own "leap motion" wich is a 16x4 sensors on the keyboard, there is also kinect wich needs to be shrunken.
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I've used the Leap Motion. It's nowhere near of being a better alternative to the mouse / trackpad.
 
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VitalyT said:
In the meantime, Windows 8.1 on the latest Macs still fails to provide the same responsiveness as OS-X does. In OS-X the touch-pad works perfectly, I never need to use a mouse, while in Windows it is quite slow and awkward without a mouse, and it is not the UI, it is the touch-pad drivers that suck.

Just a point of concern - whether MS will ever get it right with touch-pads.
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In this case I think it's just Apple not giving MS the drivers for the touchpad, which would make it normal to not work correctly in Windows. Pretty simple right? MS is not at fault here, Apple is. And it's just so that they don't have people like you pay triple the price just to run Windows on a Mac. They want you to run their own OS.
 
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"One of the main new gestures is swiping either up or down with three fingers, which will minimize or bring back all active windows." Also know as Windows key + D in every other version of windows.

"The three finger swipe up will also be used to reveal Windows 10's Task View, which neatly shows all active applications." Right click task bar then click task manager...

"Three finger swiping on the trackpad to the left or right will be used to move between applications." I'll stick to Alt + Tab, at least that way I can pick what I want to switch to.

S_Brideau said:
In this case I think it's just Apple not giving MS the drivers for the touchpad, which would make it normal to not work correctly in Windows. Pretty simple right? MS is not at fault here, Apple is. And it's just so that they don't have people like you pay triple the price just to run Windows on a Mac. They want you to run their own OS.
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I would think this has more to do with the vast number of companies making touch-pads for Windows versus Apple having One company providing them the same pad across their line up, naturally the drivers will be more streamlined. Why do you think Windows laptops come with touch-pad drivers in the first place? Simply because Microsoft had left it up to the manufacturer until now, where now they want a consistent experiences regardless of the touch-pad used, not the clunky experience we're all too familiar with.
 
Proper integration and implementation of this in Windows is a welcomed addition. In OS X I use a couple of these all the time and much like with keyboard shortcuts, you barely think when using them but save you a ton of time in a productivity setting. Now what we need is for laptop manufacturers to put their act together and be consistent in shipping only great trackpads.
 
Jos said:
Cocolio said:
This is crap, lets face it, touchpads or trackpads need to die soon, we have a better alternative in the market like leap motion, I also heard that MS is developing their own "leap motion" wich is a 16x4 sensors on the keyboard, there is also kinect wich needs to be shrunken.
Click to expand...
I've used the Leap Motion. It's nowhere near of being a better alternative to the mouse / trackpad.
Click to expand...

Yup, my leap motion is in its box in a drawer. Contemplated trying to do some development with it but it seemed to still be at a fad/gimick stage in its life. Might dig it out and have a look at the new v2 software they are rolling out.
 
This thread is spot on. My main computer is now a Windows 7 laptop but there is no way I'd use it without a wireless mouse. One of the important problems to sort with next generation laptops is the absence of a decent trackpad. I find laptop keyboards to be generally disappointing too.
 
I only use my leap motion for the very few demos that work simultaneously with the Oculus Rift. It's is definitely NOT an alternative to the trackpad.
 
Jos said:
I've used the Leap Motion. It's nowhere near of being a better alternative to the mouse / trackpad.
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it doesnt matter, its still a new product, far different in use compared to a "trackpad", the need is to develop more uses to this device.
 
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