Geek Dashboard

How-To's, Smartphones, News and Reviews

  • Phone Finder
    Phone
    Finder
  • Compare Phones
    Compare
    Phones
  • Viwe All Phone Comparisons
    View All
    Comparisons
  • Home
  • News
  • Smartphones
    • Android
    • iOS
  • Computers
    • Windows
    • macOS
  • Internet
  • Reviews
  • Phone Finder
    • Brands
You are at Home » News

Apple is not the First Company to Come up With a Touch Bar. Guess Who?

Last Updated on November 11, 2016 by Rahul Krishnan Leave a Comment

Apple fanboys find no bounds to their happiness with the new Macbook Pro launche. They believe that Apple has done something innovative as the company is known for the same. It turns out Microsoft had researched in this field for about 19 years!!

Before we go deep into the details, let us see what the touch bar on the new Macbook Pro can do.

The touch bar can change the buttons on it according to the context. When you work on a photo editing app, you can see options like crop, color picker, etc. As you go on to video editing, touch bar gives the function to scroll time back and forth.

Microsoft Once Worked on Their own Touch Bar

touch bar windows microsoft

It all started with Steven Bathiche’s (the director of research in applied sciences group of Microsoft) tweet. He also added a link pointing to a page on the Microsoft website that features the timeline of events during the development of adaptive hardware (as they say it).

Something worth checking out, worked on this a while back. Especially, given recent tech news. @microsoft @surface : https://t.co/M08AoGAkF7

— Steven Bathiche (@sbathiche) October 29, 2016

The idea was to build a keyboard with an ability to respond according to the context. Not every time we need QWERTY keyboard. The research was aimed at changing the traditional keyboard layout to something useful (with actionable buttons) whenever the same becomes unessential.

Also Read:- Customizing Windows 10 Taskbar, Home Screen and Lock Screen

Bathiche who helmed the research spent years developing a technology that recognizes the context and alters the keyboard. In comparison with Macbook touch bar, one can easily sense the similar placement (replacing the function keys).

The research team went on developing a lot of prototypes. It was in 2009 they finalized the research and came up with a product called Adaptive Keyboard. The hardware included a standard tactile keyboard with a display beneath the keys. On top of the key set, you can find a few programmable keys along with a small display.

The idea is slightly superior to what we see on Macbook Pro today. With their own version of touch bar, Microsoft aimed at improving the productivity of ordinary users. For example, you get cropping tool by pressing ‘C’ on Adobe Photoshop. A user (not a graphic designer), who uses the software only for a few purposes like cropping and resizing doesn’t rely on such shortcuts. Microsoft wanted to provide them with an easier solution.

Then why didn’t they bring this idea forward? Why didn’t they make a physical product and get to the market? Steven Bathiche has a solid reply, ‘Microsoft was not building computers, back then’.

Now that Microsoft has Surface Pro, its very own computers! Did they implement it on Surface? No!

Giving no room to another question, he added that ‘when Microsoft built computers, they built it with touch screens’. His statement completely reflects the viewpoint of the company towards the touch bar in today’s scenario.

Also Read:- Top 10 Best Google Chrome Themes

Integrating a touch bar to a touch screen computer is ridiculous. And, that marks out the difference in opinions of both the tech giants (Apple and Microsoft) when it comes to the touch interface. We can’t expect Apple to release a touch screen computer anytime soon.

#Apple#Microsoft#Touchbar
Posted inNews

Spread the Word!

Rahul Krishnan Facebook Twitter

Rahul Krishnan, a wordsmith from Kerala, India is always in lookout for his next article idea. He is a fanatic reader. And, the rumour is that his mom has recently hidden his debit card so that he can't buy books anymore. She doesn't know he has a spare one.

Related articles

Computer

12 Best iTunes Alternatives for iPhone, iPod and iPad

List of best iTunes alternatives
Mobiles

How to Download Files and Documents to iPhone

download files documents iphone
Mobiles

Daddy was a Thief Cheat to Get Unlimited Coins and High Score

daddy was a thief cheat for unlimited coins

Comment Policy:

The comments section is aimed to help our readers in case of any questions or you can even appreciate us for our hard work. Every comment is strictly moderated before approving it.

Your name and comment will be visible to the public. Never share your personal information in the comments section.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Phone Finder

Brands

  • Samsung 43
  • Xiaomi 38
  • Nokia 33
  • Motorola 33
  • Huawei 28
  • Asus 25
  • Oppo 25
  • Apple 19
  • Meizu 18
  • Vivo 17
  • Microsoft 12
  • BlackBerry 12
  • OnePlus 9
  • Google 4
  • Acer 2
  • Realme 1

Latest Phones

  • Asus Zenfone 6 (2019) Asus Zenfone 6 (2019) ₹39,999.00
  • Samsung Galaxy A70 Samsung Galaxy A70 ₹28,500.00
Notification History Log for Android

Trending Topics

  1. Samsung Galaxy A32 with 90Hz sAMOLED Display Launched in India

  2. Instagram Launched Live Rooms Feature Globally; Now Up To Four Users Can Join Live Broadcast

  3. Realme GT 5G Listed on GeekBench Revealing Key Specification Details

  4. Sony PlayStation 5 Mext Firmware Update Grants Expandable Storage

  5. Realme Narzo Series and Buds Air 2 TWS Officially Launched in India

Geek Dashboard Placeholder

Download the apps and never miss a story from us

We put a lot effort and resources in writing our articles and we believe it is our responsibility to satisfy your tech hunger. We will keep you filled forever!

  • Get Geek Dashboard App from Google Play
  • Get Geek Dashboard App from Chrome Web Store
Geek Dashboard Logo

Geek Dashboard, a technology blog strives to produce high-quality tech for our readers. Here you will find the latest updates on trending tech news, unbiased product reviews, and how-to guides on various gadgets.

Got a Tip? Write In [email protected]

© 2012 - 2020 · Geek Dashboard, product of ikva eSolutions

Blog Advertise About Jobs Contact Privacy Policy Write For Us T&C Office Setup

No dogs were injured while working on this website because we love them