Microsoft planning MultiTouch rivals in Vista’s successor

Looks like Microsoft have decided they've had enough of hearing that the iPhone has "killed" traditional touchscreens.  Earlier this week, Microsoft software test engineer Hilton Locke spilt a tidbit about Windows Mobile 7, the follow-up to Vista:

"If you are impressed by the "touch features" in the iPhone, you'll be blown away by what's coming in Windows 7" Hilton Locke, TabBlogger

It looks as though Microsoft are also doing their own work with capacitative displays, the sort that Apple use in the iPhone and iPod Touch; in fact one has shown up in Dell's Latitude XT Tablet PC, which the manufacturer is calling the "forerunner to emerging multi-touch capabilities".  Ever since the iPhone launched and gathered dropped-jaws by the bucket load over its incredibly intuitive interface, the Mac faithful have been begging for the same touchscreen technology to be included in a MacBook or MacTablet; could Microsoft beat them to it?

See Dell's capacitive interface in action, after the cut...

Of course, it's not likely.  Many rumors point to a smaller MacBook, possibly MultiTouch-enabled, being announced at MacWorld in January.  Even if the launch doesn't come so soon, Windows 7 is likely to drop in 2010 at the earliest which gives Apple ample time to put the finishing flourishes to the device they're likely got waiting in the wings.

What's left to consider, then, is the depth to which any touchscreen interface is immersed in the OS and the software it runs.  So far, the iPhone has had hardware touch an integral part of the software environment; that, in part, could be due to the closed system of specifically-coded applications, making not just compatibility but seamless integration possible.  As touchscreen-variants of the Windows OS have discovered, adding touch to a full system can be far harder; while Vista's inking is a great improvement on that of XP Tablet Edition, there are still many programmes (both Microsoft-made and third-party) which fail miserably to make the best use of pen or finger input.

Apple perhaps has a head start, since so many users stick to their iLife suite of bundled applications that "merely" re-coding them to take advantage of MultiTouch would vastly improve the sense of touch being designed in rather than an afterthought.  But there are undeniably questions to be asked and answered that may further delay any MultiTouch Apple portable.