I have a Surface Pro. I'm generally pretty happy with it.

But the selection of programs that are comfortable to use with the touchscreen is very small. In my case, pretty much web browsing, email, Netflix, and OneNote.

For typical programs, you'll either be fat-fingering buttons that are too small or you'll be pulling out the stylus frequently. The tablet experience does not compare well to an iPad.

'Full windows' is exactly the reason the ecosystem is terrible. The uniqueness of the Surface hardware is not matched by the software. Thus, besides a few brand-name apps, most ignore touch capability and code for regular Windows to reach a broader audience. Its a perfectly rational response to Microsoft setting the wrong context for an otherwise fine product.

Very interesting. Does the windows API have dedicated touch events? I listen for mouse down, mouse up, mouse motion (or use a timer and poll the mouse location is a button is down), drag and drop events etc. but I suspect on a touchscreen device all of the touch events are just handed to the system as mouse events.

I wouldn't like to think how MFC handles pinch to zoom, for example.