SoCalDevGal will get you working on Windows 7 application development – touch some hardware first

The first step in starting to develop on a new platform includes obtaining the software for that platform of course.  Before I talk about software though, I am going to talk a bit about hardware.  Because I want to develop an application using the multi-touch features of Windows 7,  I will be using hardware that is enabled to support this feature.  I am fortunate enough to be working with the the HP TouchSmart TX2 multi-touch enabled laptop.  It’s a beauty, isn’t it? Here are the specs for this machine:

”In addition to the 1200x800 multi-touch capability, the 4.5-pound tx2 has 2.1GHz AMD Turion X2 processor, ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics, 8 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD (5400 RPM), Bluetooth, integrated webcam, 8x DVD burner, VGA out and a digital pen.”

During Windows 7 ISV Incubation week, all teams worked with multi-touch enabled hardware, such as the HP TX2 laptop or the HP TouchSmart PC.  I also see the Dell Latitude XT2, but at nearly $6k, it’s pretty pricey!  There are also Windows 7 multi-touch monitors available, such as those from Albatron.  Of course, multi-touch enabled hardware is in NO way required for Windows 7 development, but c’mon, it’s pretty cool. 

Just to get you thinking about what is possible for touch applications, here’s a short video to show you the touch features in Windows 7.

Windows 7 Touch and Multitouch on HP TouchSmart PC from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

I’ll get into much more detail about developing multi-touch applications on Windows 7 as I continue through this series. I think it’s good to get an idea from the start of what is now possible though.