Trackpad Gestures

How many times, when switching between our Macs and our Windows PCs, have we absent-mindedly tried our two or four-finger swipe on the trackpad; and then, for a second, we wonder why it didn't work? I know I have, and many's the day I've smiled resignedly to myself thinking, "Oh dear, this is Windows -- not my Mac!

Well, this situation could well end, according to Microsoft's Joe Belfiore who, according to Verge, mentioned in a keynote address at TechEd Europe, "In the past touch pads on Windows have really been done very differently because OEMs do them. With Windows 10 we're adding support for power users in a touch pad, where multiple finger gestures — which all of you power users learn — can make you really efficient." This has been recorded elsewhere as well -- by Endgadget and Gizmodo, so there is definitely something to look forward to in the future.

Apple Mac's have, of course, had this facility since way back when. Currently the gestures which do work on my MPB are:

Swipe

• between pages (right or left - two fingers)
• between full-screen apps (left or right - four fingers)
• right to left for Notification Center (two fingers)
• up for Mission Control (four fingers) ...

... and so on.

As I said, Microsoft is catching up with finger-gestures -- at least for those of us who have newish Windows laptops (maybe -- on which models finger-gestures will work hasn't been clearly stated yet) running Windows 10 and later.

I'm not very hopeful of it working on my old Windows laptop, though ... but let's see ...