I work for a Fortune 50 tech company with approx 80,000 employees world wide.  The office folks are going to Win 8 but the technical staff is staying with win7 because win 8 is not technically robust enough for the more technical applications that our tech's need....
 
that being said I'm sure if we wait a few more months MS will release yet another half baked OS (Win9) and some folks will jump on that prematurely....Ms needs to make money and the OS is their game...
 

One thing I need to be clear on. I'm personally ok with "touch" control in an of itself. There's a really neat little iPad2 app that allows you to control some functions o Sonar (and many other DAW's) over WiFi. It's way cool, but I stopped using it. It really didn't help me work faster, even though the sliders were much larger and easier to touch. With that said, the issue I have is more that Skylight isn't ready for touch. Needs bigger faders, and buttons for larger fingers. If you compare Sonar's faders and buttons to an SSL (physical) console, you'd see quickly that Skylight is a lot of GUI crammed into one screen. So, what I see happening (I sincerely hope) is that there will be a quick way to zoom into, not just the audio, but Zoom the Skylight GUI itself. If one could zoom into the GUI so that faders could actually replicate the size of a real large console, then use swipe to move down the console to higher-numbered faders, or up to see my plug-ins, not just the Pro-Channel (which I rarely use), I think the touch experience would be 200% better. Right now, I simply don't think Skylight is ready. NOW, what I see in the distant future, but rest-assured, it will get here (hopefully in the next 20 years or so): Virtual consoles. Yes, a real 3D console that you can actually TOUCH, generated by an interface from Windows21 (hypothetical). Can you imagine a table in front of you with an actual 3D console projected on it that you can actually FEEL and control? Otherwise, gimmie zoom, size-lock, and swipe ability always on top for the Skylight interface itself and we're on our way!! I'll get some extra touch monitors, and voila!! THEN, I'll see the "light"...err Skylight.

 I ordered a touchscreen today. I plan on mounting it on my desk horizontally below my current monitor. I have the same track ball at my day job as I do in my home studio and I think I,m getting carpal tunnel.
  That being said, I may be the worlds oldest child. I need to have all the coolest gadgets that I can acquire. I think I spend more time making my studio look cool than I do actually making music. 

I think it is important that Cakewalk keep up to date with new tech.

I also believe that touch screens are best as horizontal surfaces, i.e. control surfaces.

I see it as, Screen 1 main display-vertical, Screen 2 interface-horizontal.

I'm stoked, but it puts me a waiting list for a bit. Was going to get a Behringer X32 digital console as a front end and fadar, transport, etc.  But I can see I'd much rather have a horizonal touch screen where the mixer would be. I can aslo still see keeping my dual 27" for stuff, but have the touch in front where a small mixer would be seems awesome.

The way I see it, a lot of applications don't need touch, so it's easy to write it off. But some applications are perfect candidates for multiple inputs, and audio/midi sequencers fall into that category (mixing, drum pads, virtual keyboards, etc.). Like any new approach, it will take time to get it right, but I think it's a smart move by CW. I personally wouldn't want to use it on a vertical monitor, but as a second horizontal input surface, there's a lot of potential. It might also be a good incentive for CW to make at least parts of its UI dynamically scalable.

Gartner's latest report on Windows 8 says to wait until Windows 9.

I had an epiphany.

Who in their right mind would want a vertical touch screen?

I like my iPad, but would never use it vertically, even 45 degrees would be a pain.

Touch screens should always be near horizontal and if they are horizontal then they are poor replacements for monitors.

I don't see how a vertical touch screen can ever be a win.

Well, I started a thread yesterday about Touch and am an advocate... the video from Steven Slate and the investment he has made in this technologiy is admirable.  I thought he had a new desk behind him until I realized it was a multi touch screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HHiXqcyu2M


Check it out if you haven't seen it yet.

Jim

@jkleban-- Thanks for posting the video. That's definitely inspiring, to say the least. Having a 46" screen with the DAW is definitely a must for the future (or even a larger screen). But if you look closely, and this echoes my feelings about Skylight in a "touch" screen world, note how large the faders buttons and knobs are. Perhaps on a 46" screen Skylight may be large enough to use, but on a laptop, tablet, or any monitors or touch screens less than 30", and it just falls short, imo. Perhaps Cakewalk can introduce a "touch" mode that increases the size of buttons, knobs, and faders, meanwhile leaving the rest of the graphics at the current dot-pitch.