Is there real value in multi-touch interface for a desktop?

I was lucky enough recently to be involved in a Surface project at Microsoft writing an educational game for an upcoming "trade show". I can really see how the collaborative nature and natural interaction of the Surface could be huge in the education space, I really can't get excited by touch or multi-touch on a "normal" machine.

I can see how multi-touch is useful in a mobile machine like the iPhone, but I just don't see how or why I'd want to put my sticky fingers all over my desktop or laptop, or what software would really take advantage of it (especially if it's restricted to "just" 2 inputs. I'd imagine it's quicker for me to resize a picture with my mouse than it is to reach from the mouse to the screen and do it there :)

Do I just not get it? Is anyone working on exciting multi-touch apps that might change my mind? :)

Apple bought the patent portfolio of a company called FingerWorks so that it could build multitouch into its own devices. FingerWorks made a keyboard replacement called the TouchStream that was the single best input device I have ever owned.

As a keyboard, it allowed me to touch type at full speed with zero force required for a key "press" to register. The right half of the keyboard also acted as a mousepad, complete with left-, right-, and middle-click, double-click, etc. It included multi-finger gestures for cut, copy, paste, zoom in, zoom out, page up, page down, switching apps, and dozens of other common operations for which you'd ordinarily use key combos, special keys, or menus. It allowed me to attach macros to application-sensitive gestures - with a twitch of my left hand, I could compile the app I was working on in Visual C++; the same twitch did other things in other apps. A different twitch could be tied to another macro, or insert an HTML template, etc.

My productivity was improved greatly by this device - I never had to move my hands away from the home row to use a mouse or to execute a gesture, and I could still use regular old Ctrl-Alt-Shift-foo key combos if I needed to (which of course one does, in emacs).

I miss the TouchStream greatly, but unfortunately the mechanical design of the thing was fragile, and after the company disappeared I opted to sell the keyboard (for significantly more than I paid for it - the TouchStream enthusiast community is still out there) rather than put up with an unplanned breakage.

All this to say: Those who pooh-pooh the idea of multi-touch being the primary interface - especially for programmers - have simply not seen it done well. I have. And I'm ready for it to come back.