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Death Of The Mouse?

appdeveloper.intel.com

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Re: Death Of The Mouse?

#2
Microsoft presented their new touch mouse at CES. Yeah, mice are definitely not new and exciting at this point, but until 'touch' becomes ubiquitous they are still quite necessary.

Since I still have to live with mice for the foreseeable future, I'm frustrated at the lack of decent wired mice on the market. Wireless mice always give me tracking issues and I don't like the inconvenience of replacing batteries. But every new mouse on the market is wireless now.

I'd love to try the Apple Magic Mouse or even the new Microsoft touch mouse, but I'm not willing to deal with wireless. Therefore, I'm using an IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0, a mouse first released in 2001, because new mouse innovations don't come with USB models anymore.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Re: Death Of The Mouse?

#3
Since our eyes are built into the front plate of our head and our head is mounted upright on our torso, displays are bound to stand vertically in front of our eyes. Hands are pretty bad at interacting with vertical surfaces as this requires us to lift both hands and arms for prolonged periods of time.

Hence, there has to be a horizontal, desktop-surface that we manually interact with and a vertical surface that we look at. This seems to require some kind of virtual agent that represents the hand on the screen. I don't think mouses and keyboards are going away any time soon (even though they might get enhanced with other technologies)

Re: Death Of The Mouse?

#4
Personal computing has left the realm of the desk and the office. Surely, we can use a mouse and keyboard while being mobile, but we wouldn't trade the accuracy and ergonomics of a mouse and keyboard for something else when at home or at work. Many new devices, like the iPad, are consumption devices. You use it to watch videos, to play games, to listen to music, to read books, or to surf the web. Creation on these devices is limited. Surely, you can type an email or take notes in a meeting, but what you gain in mobility you lose in accuracy and ergonomics. The mouse has been around for fifty years and its design has been iterated upon again and again, from a simple block of wood to well formed plastic molds to fit various hand shapes and sizes. Touches and gestures may be the new hot thing, but for real work the mouse isn't going anywhere.

Re: Death Of The Mouse?

#5

Microsoft presented their new touch mouse at CES. Yeah, mice are definitely not new and exciting at this point, but until 'touch' becomes ubiquitous they are still quite necessary. Since I still have to live with mice for the foreseeable future, I'm frustrated at the lack of decent wired mice on the market. Wireless mice always give me tracking issues and I don't like the inconvenience of replacing batteries. But eve…

What are your concerns with using a wireless mouse?

Re: Death Of The Mouse?

#6

Microsoft presented their new touch mouse at CES. Yeah, mice are definitely not new and exciting at this point, but until 'touch' becomes ubiquitous they are still quite necessary. Since I still have to live with mice for the foreseeable future, I'm frustrated at the lack of decent wired mice on the market. Wireless mice always give me tracking issues and I don't like the inconvenience of replacing batteries. But eve…

What are your concerns with using a wireless mouse?

I hate batteries.

Re: Death Of The Mouse?

#7

Microsoft presented their new touch mouse at CES. Yeah, mice are definitely not new and exciting at this point, but until 'touch' becomes ubiquitous they are still quite necessary. Since I still have to live with mice for the foreseeable future, I'm frustrated at the lack of decent wired mice on the market. Wireless mice always give me tracking issues and I don't like the inconvenience of replacing batteries. But eve…

Razer's mice are pretty nice: http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/DisplayCateg...

Re: Death Of The Mouse?

#9

Microsoft presented their new touch mouse at CES. Yeah, mice are definitely not new and exciting at this point, but until 'touch' becomes ubiquitous they are still quite necessary. Since I still have to live with mice for the foreseeable future, I'm frustrated at the lack of decent wired mice on the market. Wireless mice always give me tracking issues and I don't like the inconvenience of replacing batteries. But eve…

I absolutely swear by evoluent mice: http://www.evoluent.com/ Your forearm is in a much more natural position, and the hard part of it is exposed to the table edge or pad, not the soft part.

Re: Death Of The Mouse?

#10
post #4

Personal computing has left the realm of the desk and the office. Surely, we can use a mouse and keyboard while being mobile, but we wouldn't trade the accuracy and ergonomics of a mouse and keyboard for something else when at home or at work. Many new devices, like the iPad, are consumption devices. You use it to watch videos, to play games, to listen to music, to read books, or to surf the web. Creation on these de…

Ehmmm, the ergonomics of mice is horrid. Just read a bit about mouse damages.

Touch might not be the saviour, but dont holdt the mouse as a good example of ergonomics.

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