I agree with you on the perspective of "before its time". I also have a couple of Touchstreams and I use them extensively. I only use the tactile units when I game as the driver response time on the touchstreams are not optimal for gaming.

Cost was a barrier to adoption with the Fingerworks product I now use. I remember that when I bought my Touchstream LP keyboards that I paid over $250 (usd) a unit for them. Then again, they are VERY durable and extremely functional. Even with the company gone I have still be successful with them over the years.

On my touchstreams, the pads are split and rest on a metal stand to allow of ergo placements of hands. Very comfortable!

I disagree. It depends on how you represent finger positions in relation to the location on the GUI. Lots of methods to make that unobstructed and even 'submerged' until signaled to surface by a gesture or touch on the device. Also scrolling can be as simple as holding down a set of digits to the pad and moving around. This is how it works right now with the Touchstream input device I am using (yes it's multi-touch)

Actually you could use a chord to do this. Right or left hand is held down in a chord style placement upon the appropriate side of the pad and this will cause the mouse sensitivity to change while the chord is held. Moving the chord up or down can vary the sensitivity of motion as well.

My Touchstream detects multiple clicks. When I press down with to fingers on the left side pad it's a left click. When I press with three it's treated as a double click. When I press with index-middle-thumb combination it reads a right click... So detecting multiple simultaneous clicks and even secondary clicks while holding down some fingers is also discernable by resistive devices.

This is a nice revisit to the technology but even now I am using a multi-touch interface to type this comment. I was luck enough to be an early adopter and have a few of the now defunct FingerWorks LLP products. Notably my two TouchStream LPs and an iGesture pad. Unlike the displayed product my keyboard/mouse has two pads and is arranged in an ergonomic arrangement (see image: http://pcworld.in/uploads/images/pcworld/4915355_15.jpg).

There are some finger markers to let you find the home row by touch. I move the mouse with two fingers on the right side of the screen and control the cursor in applications with two fingers on the right. There are a number of programmed gestures that allow for a great deal of task automation in stead of multiple click and drags.

I love the device but it does have limitations. Response time is not so great for gaming as you have the Gesture interpreter layer to contend with. There is a game mode for the device but I've rarely used it. I still mis-type a lot but then the driver also helps and makes a lot of corrections automatically based on what word I am typing. In my case it's usually about 90% correct when it fixes my typos.

I loved the GUI interaction metaphors that the video describes. I hope that older versions of devices like the one I have will get grandfathered in to design considerations or even further development!