Windows 7 will probably support Windows Touch, but only if your monitor supports touch-screen capabilities. Whether that would spur new monitor upgrades and convince manufacturers remain to be seen.

T&A: DigiTimes.com published a report where Taiwan-based PC vendors and motherboard manufacturers expressed doubt on whether Microsoft’s Windows 7 would really help stimulate demand for replacement PC parts and upgrades.

As a follow-up to Vista, Windows 7 aims to keep hardware demands low so that adoption rates for the operating system would go up when it is launched (targeted sometime late this year or early next year). This would mean a lesser need for consumers and corporate customers to spend on hardware upgrades, a situation worsened further by the current crisis as customers tighten their belts.

While there is widespread belief that Microsoft might be bringing forward the launch of Windows 7, several key people interviewed by the site believed that the economy needs to recover first with appropriate assimilation of both hardware and software before Windows 7 can jumpstart the much needed PC replacement economy. (Editor opinions: 2)

Navin Danapal, Technical Editor, HWM Malaysia

Navin (HWM MY): If Taiwanese computer hardware makers are hoping Windows 7 will encourage customers to upgrade their PCs and thereby increase product sales, then they’re in for a rough ride. Windows 7 is Microsoft’s attempt to convert older Windows XP users who didn’t upgrade to Windows Vista, positioning it as an optimized ‘Windows Vista’, which in essence, is what Windows 7 really is. (more…)