Sydney Windows User Group covers Windows 7 and Touch

Last Wednesday (13 May 2009) we had the first meeting of the newly formed (reformed?) Sydney Windows User Group (SWUG). Nick Rayner and I are leading the group, although to be fair Nick is doing 90% of the work. He’s the initiative, drive and main organizer.

And doing a fantastic job I must say. The first meeting was packed and had more interaction amongst attendees than I’ve ever seen in a long time. It bodes well for future meetings. (The group meets on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at Microsoft North Ryde, so make sure you get along to our next meeting on 10 June if you’re interested.)

At the first meeting we Nick covered an introduction to Windows 7 (now that the RC has been released – and we also had a loadfest prior to the meeting). After pizza I covered Touch on Windows 7, and then a few comments about Touch in general (eg on Microsoft Surface and even a quick look at the TouchWall).

The presentations are available here.

I’ve embedded a few of the videos I would have liked to have shown at the meeting (but sadly we’d run out of time).

Here’s a promo for the HP TouchSmart (which we all had a play with – thanks to Nick for bringing it along):

And here’s a look at Microsoft Surface discussed in a medical scenario. The important point from this is the value of touch as a mechanism for removing the barrier between doctor and patient. There’s a huge difference when a doctor has a monitor between you, and control of the input devices. But when both are sitting around a touch screen or table and interacting, those barriers are removed. There’s a ton of other scenarios of course including education (which I’ve mentioned before).

And here’s a look at the TouchWall (you may remember this being in the news a year or so ago). Consider team meetings when everyone can interact, as opposed to be held hostage by your boss hogging the mouse :-)

At our next meeting we’ll be taking a look at Windows Media Center in all its glory (details).

A big thank you to Microsoft (especially Jeff Alexander) for looking after us.

BTW: Don’t forget about the Sydney Business & Technology User Group (SBTUG) – our meeting next week (27 May) is looking at Adobe Flash & Flex compared with Microsoft Silverlight.