[djdjohnson]

I'm not really sure how you can possibly see a touch-based keyboard as an improvement on what we have. Could we get used to using a touchscreen based keyboard? Maybe. But just because we can doesn't mean we should, or that it would be better than what we have. The keyboard we have now is the result of over a century of research and innovation. Considering that it hasn't changed much during that time means that it is pretty well designed from the start. Why replace it with something more complicated, harder to use, and more expensive? It doesn't make any sense.

The fact that previous touch-based keyboards were so widely hated should be a pretty good indication that things won't be moving in this direction, and rightfully so.

[rgreen4]

The keyboard has been modified and "improved" by many over the years and they keep coming back to the basics. Yes the F and J keys have the little tabs or spots or whatever so that your fingers know they are on the home keys without having to look. The key tops also have the reverse curve or cup for comfort and to center your fingers on the key tops. Various manufacturers have screwed around with the keyboard starting with the infamous IBM PCjr "chicklet" keyboard that had rounded tops and no tactile feel that was universally slammed by experienced keyboard users.

The original IBM 101 key keyboard with its snapping motion of when the key goes over the pressure release point and is noisy almost to the point of distraction remains a highly sought after keyboard to this day. Even though the keyboard has not been produced in years, there are copies available for those who still desire it. I have never used a screen keyboard, but as one who learned on a manual typewriter in Jr. High School, I cannot imagine anything more repulsive. To those who use a keyboard (or calculator) for long periods during the day the design and comfort of the device is paramount.

Ergonomics is not the science of making the human body adapt to some abstract design, but designing the device to fit the human body so it can be used effectively without adverse effects on the body.

[WinTard]

Yet another ridiculous article...

You can't play or work without any kind of precision the mouse or trackball gives you. Fingers are gross devices for pinpointing accuracy. Try to trace the outline of any form or shape with your finger. Maybe artists will use finger-painting instead of brushes?

Anyway, touch-screen are nice on things like iPhone and Blackberry, but for serious work? Ha!

Already the touchpad on my laptop drives me nuts, when my palm accidentally brushes it, sending my cursor wild... I have to DISABLE it whenever a real mouse is connected. Enough said. And NOBODY touches my screen(s) or glasses with their dirty fingers!

Why do you think all our digits (fingers) are unequal length?

Nature knows best through million years of evolution. And touch screen evolution is going to revolutionize that? In a couple of years? Yeah right. Case point, try to write with your fingers instead of a pen...

[DQuin413]

I've been using a Logitech TrackMan(listed as a Human Interface Device in my Device Manager).While it's similar to a mouse, there's no dragging it around; you control the cursor with a trackball moved with your thumb and it has the two buttons and a wheel.While it took me a while to get used to it,I love it now...don't care for TouchScreens cause you have to constantly wipe fingerprints off the screen. Imagine when your kids or nephews or nieces come over and put their grubby,sticky fingers all over your expensive TouchScreens....YUK!!!

[itproandteacher]

I agree with most of the posters on here. The mouse and keyboard are by far the most convenient input devices, this general idea of the mouse "going away" and being replaced by touchscreen or other input methods has been bandied about for years. It hasn't happened yet, and likely won't happen soon. Touch screens work for certain electronic devices (like PHONES and TVs that don't have a keyboard and mouse), but a physical mouse and keyboard can't be beat for desktops, servers, or laptops. The eraser mouse and touch pad work but any time I can hook up a traditional mouse on my laptop, I do. Voice recognition software can work if it's accurate and in a confined environment. The noise in a large call center environment would be positively unbearable (and would take longer than typing and mousing during the call, all input would have to be made between calls or during breaks in the call while the call is muted).

[Foxylady48180]

Would not get a tuch screen; they are toys. They are also something else to go wrong. If my mouse stops working, I can run up and get a new one and the problem is resolved. Not so with a touch screen. The small stuff isn't much better. I would hate to be in a hurry and be banging away with my fingers on those little buttons; God know what you are going to come up with. Bet most people use pencils....

[lionroar]

I totally disagree with you on that one. I seen the touch screen in action and it is awesome. Who is to say that the mouse at some point when it hit the floor was not awkward to use as well. I moved on from that stupid rubber ball getting dirt y under the mouse and making mouse movements sporadic on the screen, to just using the simple laser type, but now I have to deal with that silly wire pulling down on the mouse for being too light. I will think twice before getting a wireless bluetooth technology one, just so that it's batteries get replaced again. That just defeats the purpose.

[rasmasyean]

Well, it looks like everyone has found their preferred mode of input. With all the stuff said, I for one think I come closer to drawing a simple circle with my finger than with a mouse. "Evolutionarily" it prolly can be traced to finger-painting on cave walls as a communication breakthrough. I don't think they painted with their wrists. That's ergonomics for you. I'm sure some graphic artists with 10 years of Adobe experience disagree with me, but that's training that not everyone acclimates up to.
The advantage of the mouse over many current devices is hi-resolution speed control with multiple button actions with one hand. Now, I'm not a NUI expert, but I imagine a similar gesture on a multi-touch pad can be accomplished by tracking an index finger while registering taps with the other fingers. It's still like a mouse motion, except in this case you can "hyperspace" the pointer instead of moving it, hence make it even faster. With 2 hands, you can select 2 different areas (via 2 pointers) simultaneously with the similar gestures. One thing you cannot do with a mouse is rotate something like they do in the Surface computer. I'm sure you can program something with a mouse but it would be awkward. But you sure can't program it to rotate (or drag) 2 things like in a NUI!
So in-between your 2 trackpads (which can be just software displayed on your Optical Sensor LCD "plank") is a keyboard the size of your hands (maybe MS angled) in any language preference and any layout your want. No QWERTY for your? Go crazy. Or if you're on a laptop, tap the middle "button", you call up the keyboard and minimize the trackpads. Tap the side buttons and you call back the trackpads. Heck, tap the custom button and call up the WoW control panel! Forget about work! All of this without even having to put finger prints on the "display" if that irks you.
I still think it's just a matter of time before someone can type a lot faster with something like an OS LCD. The clear advantage you have is that you don't lose time by having to "move" a button up and down. You just have to get used to it. Old farts take longer and maybe never, but young people will blow you away.
If you want to see how a NUI works, this video shows some pretty cool stuff. Skip to arround 14 minutes if you don't want to see Brad Carpenter's intro and another guy shows you how it works.
channel9.msdn.com/pdc2008/PC17/

[mpheadley]

I don't think people are entirely opposed to touch screen technology, the problem is the precision that certain tasks need. Our fingers our much bigger than a single pixel. Just think of this one simple task: Moving a cursor back in some text you wrote to edit it. Simply placing your finger on the screen would cover probably two words! Now with that, I'm wondering if touch screen tech has evolved enough so that you can possibly use a fingernail to place the cursor exactly where you want it. Even a stylus point covers a few pixels. Even though you can usually zoom in a drawing program, there is the potential for scratching the screen.

And another huge issue is the current situation. People have already invested a lot into lcd screens. I don't think most people are ready to go out and buy new monitors again for a long time. And ergonomics is again, a huge issue. Just think about where many lcd monitors are now placed on desks that were designed with CRT monitors in mind. Since I have two monitors, mine are placed even further back. I'd have to reach like 3-4 feet to touch the screens! I value, having gotten rid of my crt monitors, the space I now have in front of my monitors to spread out random paperwork and junk.

[rasmasyean]

There are different grades of touchscreens. Some are pretty durable. Where I live more and more touchscreen's are replacing cash registers. And high durability "panel PCs" have been around factories for a long time. It's just a matter of mass production and maturation of technology for them to go down in price to be affordable at the consumer level. But now there is dual touch (for Windows 7) and true sensor, for that Samsung netbook pad. I imagine the Samsung technology will be expensive for a little while.

[rgreen4]

rasmasyean said:

I'm sure you can program something with a mouse but it would be awkward. But you sure can't program it to rotate (or drag) 2 things like in a NUI!

Ever tried Googles Street View with a mouse? You can rotate to look across the street, look down in the street, look up in the air, all my moving the standard old mouse.

[TechieXP]

I think we could all list technologies we thought would go extinct just because something better came out.

We have media that holds GB of data vs KB, yet floppy is still around. Even with other media that can be used to boot a system

VCR still exist even though DVD and Blu-ray are way better.

Cassettes are still around and even 12" records to this day have been proven to produce the best stereo sound.

I don't think the mouse will ever be truly replaced. If you boot up your system and for some reason the touchscreen software gets scramble (and that is possible in any OS) The mouse will be there to save you. After 40 years of PC eveolution...that mouse and keyboard have remained basically unchanged from its basic original design.

Nice review though...times are changing.

[cdotrun]

While both Mouse and Keyboard will be wireless, neither will go away.
The Keyboard will become more interactive than just input-taking device: There will be a OLED strip on left, top and right sides for notifications, customizable applications and multimedia keys, as well as key hints for particular applications when a combination key is pressed.
For mouse, there won't be much changes on the hardware side, but on the UI side of operating systems and applications. First, the vertical text context menu will become floating toolboxes/toolcircles.
As for touchpads and pen tablets, these things will become part of screens, allowing multitouch gestures, virtual keyboards, virtual universal remote, virtual mouse. The pen will be an instrument for graphics and signatures, or 3D Mouse if lifted horizontally.
Most important, of course, is that Keyboard, Mouse, touchsurface, pen, display, printers, PDAs, webcams, scanners, or anything that is now tethered to one system at a time wired or wireless, will no longer be tethered to one system at a time but instead tethered to a local network to interact with any nearby access points on demand as operating systems and storages too will not be confined to a single machine.

[rasmasyean]

ROFL! Nice noob example. Ever play World of Warcraft? The online sensation of the gaming world? You can do that and more with a mouse and keyboard and customized WoW keyboards they sell too. Not to mention how much the mouse can clobber xbox controller people in twitch games.
I know what you can do with a mouse. I'm just saying that other possibilities open up new avenues of interaction with the computer. Will it "disappear" right away? There are still floppy disks arround and records and VCR tapes, but they are clearly the minority prefered format and diminishing. I used to carry 10 floppy disks. Now computers don't even have them. People carried flash drives instead...and its becoming more online. One day, the hard drive will be replaced by SDD's and there will be no more "spinning things" besides the fan.
Don't forget that 3D environments didn't exist when the mouse came to being. Those methods of control and interaction had to be invented after the fact.

[rasmasyean]

Force feedback pen.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Sk-ExWeA03Y

[rasmasyean]

Oh, and if you like how a mouse can handle "3D", you should try these input devices.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R12xFUDvu2E
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMAzwm27zPg]

Sensable Technologies makes these haptic arm styluses that you use to interact with models. I've use one before and no video can descibe it. It feels REAL. from inertia to acceleration to texture. Boeing engineers use them and sculptors use them. Surgeons use these things to train in some casess...and they are working on remote robotic surgury on the battlefield. Too bad it costs an arm and a leg...for now.

[linuxdork]

Yes, the mouse will eventually go away. So will the wheel on cars. But until we have realistic hover technology, we need wheels to productively drive a car and a mouse to productively use a computer.


-----
{noformat}{noformat}FastBatts! The pro's source for 100% OEM compatible batteries and power adapters. Dell, IBM/Lenovo, Asus, Gateway, HP, Compaq + more! Safe, secure & reliable, most $60 - $70!{noformat}
{noformat}

[MarioJP]

uhhh ookay how would i play my fps games??? LOL.

[Jesant13]

I agree with you. I would hate it if the mouse went away. The games I play depend on, among other things, a mouse. Also I don't like touchpads that much because I like being able to grip a mouse versus moving my finger over a flat surface. I don't like touchscreens either since I would always be seeing fingerprints and I hate having to stare at fingerprints on my screen.

If the mouse vanished, it would be expected that there would be a load of ranting. I would be one of those ranters. ;)

[coastie65]

I have to agree with rasmasyean in that some functions are made for touch screen. I worked in a snack bar at at Bowling Center. We converted from the cash registers to a touch screen system. It was so much better. I can not stand keyboard controls in games, as they are made for a mouse in my opinion. For POS type operations, the touch screen is ideal. coastie