Windows 7 to feature multi-touch technology

Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, the successor to Vista, will feature a multi-touch interface, with the technology available in late 2009.

The news was announced this week at The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, California.

A demonstration at the event showed how the technology allows a user to use their fingers to draw on screen, resize and zoom in and out of images, and search maps.

The technology is capable of processing multiple simultaneous inputs and is said to be faster than a mouse at performing certain tasks. It will also work with existing touchscreens.