Microsoft demos future Windows with touch-screen

Steve Ballmer unveiled the iPhone-like touch-screen feature at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference, calling it "just the smallest snippet" of the Windows 7 operating system slated for release in late 2009. A Microsoft employee showed possible applications like enlarging and shrinking photos and navigating a map of San Diego by stroking the screen. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates framed the new feature as an evolution away from the mouse. "Today almost all the interaction is keyboard-mouse," Gates said. "Over years to come, the role of speech, vision, ink — all of those — will be huge." Microsoft's top two executives defended the company's last operating system, Vista, while acknowledging missteps. Gates said he has never been 100 percent satisfied with any Microsoft product, and that the company prides itself on fixing shortcomings in later versions...AP