Next Windows to get multi-touch

Microsoft’s next version of Windows will support complex multi-touch features, according to a claim by company test engineer Hilton Locke. So far referred to only as Windows 7, the operating system will receive a Windows Technology update that should allow multiple points of contact and significantly more complex input options than the iPhone. Users of the Apple handset will be “blown away” by the additions to Windows, Locke hints without providing specific details.

Really guys? Really? Come on.
Based on Microsoft’s track record, the next version of Windows won’t be out for another few years, and if they pull it off at all like they did with Vista, it will be slow and buggy as hell until… um.. hey, when’s SP1 supposed to come out, anyway?

So, ok, maybe touch technologies in the Windows PC of 2010 will blow the 2007 iPhone away… but what about the 2-3 versions of iPhone that are sure to come out in the meantime? What about the years of Mac OS & computer updates that will have come out by then? What about the foretold Apple multitouch gadgets that may be released as soon as next year or possibly next month? Does Microsoft thinks this industry is standing still without them? Do they really think a one-up to the iPhone’s technology half a decade later is going to be their killer app?

…And if they do, why the hell are they telling us about this? I mean, I love juicy tech news as much as the next geek, but guys, take a tip from Apple (or just about any tech company): Don’t brag about what you’re working on until you have a shiny new product that works and is ready to sell to the public.