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The end of the computer mouse?


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It's nearly 40 years old but one leading research company says the days of the computer mouse are numbered. A Gartner analyst predicts the demise of the computer mouse in the next three to five years. Taking over will be so called gestural computer mechanisms like touch screens and facial recognition devices. "The mouse works fine in the desktop environment but for home entertainment or working on a notebook it's over," declared analyst Steve Prentice.

"You've got Panasonic showing forward facing video in the home entertainment environment. Instead of using a conventional remote control you hold up your hand and it recognises you have done that," he said. "It also recognises your face and that you are you and it will display on your TV screen your menu. You can move your hand to move around and select what you want," he added. "Sony and Canon and other video and photographic manufacturers are using face recognition that recognises your face in real time," he said. "And it recognises even when you smile. You even have emotive systems where you can wear a headset and control a computer by simply thinking and that's a device set to hit the market in September."

Naturally enough those in the business of making mice are not wholly in agreement that the end is nigh. "The death of the mouse is greatly exaggerated," said Rory Dooley senior vice president and general manager of Logitech's control devices unit. Logitech is the world's biggest manufacturer of mice and keyboards and has sold more than 500 million mice over the last 20 years. "This just proves how important a device the mouse is," said Mr Dooley. But he also agreed that the number of ways people can interact with a computers were rising and that his own company was manufacturing many of them. "The devices we use have been modified for our changing lifestyles but it doesn't negate the value of the mouse," Mr Dooley explained.

(Excerpts / BBC News)
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Are you read to bin your mouse and can you imagine using a computer without one?
JanaPokana

36 responses // The end of the computer mouse?

  • Evolution made the computer mouse ergonomic, wireless and ball free but it is still limited by the familiar function of point and click.

    The proliferation of the touchpad and more interactive motion sensitive devices have already ensured the eventual extiction for this once popular peripheral.
    EclecticBadger
    1 response to this
  • eep... no more mice??
    joshuaheller
  • How does face recognition take the place of the computer mouse? You wink once for iTunes, twice for Task manager, and cross your eyes for internet?

    Maybe touchscreen will replace the mouse but I hold out hope that people will continue to be too lazy to lift their arm up and touch their monitor.
    NoGodsNoMasters
  • But I love the mouse, feel on screens and laptop rolly things are a downright pain in the arsse!
    steadward
  • Bullllllshittttt.

    As a gamer and a frequent computer user, I can say comfortably that this guy is a moron.

    Maybe old tards that don't know how to use computers like touch screens, but the rest of us all prefer and are quite good with mice. Touch screens are much slower and less reliable.

    And if you play games, especially FPS's, this notion is -laughable-.

    Talk to me again ten years, I'll still be using a mouse. =)
    Saladin
    1 response to this
  • I'll be convinced when I see mice on the endangered species list.
    TopScruffy
  • You just can't get rid of a classic like the mouse. All the time we have used computers we have all used mouses (apparently thats the correct plural) how can we get used to anything else?
    thekingbeyond
  • maybe are computer will be all touch screen like the ones in the movie "Click".
    Freakna
  • Wow, people really are adverse to change. Think of it this way, 40 years ago the computers most of are using as we speak wouldn't have fit in the rooms were using them in currently. Is it so inconceivable an innovation will replace the mouse in ten years or so?
    eldamon
    10 responses to this
  • "Cynicism is the last refuge of the indifferent."
    -- Anonymous.

    Yeah buddy.
    J_Jammer
    1 response to this
  • Honestly, some people mouses just prefer mouses over anything because its much easier to use for them. I hope they make mouses at least an option, not forcing us to change how we personally operate in computers.
    infuriel
  • Good news most mice are made for right handed people anyways, leaving us leftys out in the cold.

    As long as I can still play World of Warcraft that is. =).
    VegaNerDiva
  • I want my neural controller!
    Dmitri_Molotov
  • I want to be able to walk through the virtual internet.
    Bigdog_mike
  • I don't believe it. I love my mouse.
    What would we do instead?
    helloimcat
    1 response to this
  • For my digital artwork, a mouse is absolutely essential. None of the technologies described in the article can replace it.
    Vierotchka
  • I think the mouse may become more rare but never extinct. I know for computer gaming, without a mouse precision and speed are greatly compromised.
    Egnatius212
  • No one wants to move their arms that much. A mouse is simple, just your wrists.
    Nuevarine
  • Touchscreens have a long way to go if thats the plan.

    Anyone that uses one daily knows what it feels like to want to throw the monitor out of a 6th floor window.

    You can barely trust a child to not break a mouse you think I'm letting'em use my touchscreen monitor with cheetoh hands?
    Purplepanda0o0o
  • I'm telling ya, thought control is the way to go.
    Dmitri_Molotov
  • The mouse has become part of our daily lives. It'll take a great deal of time & effort for our generation to learn and use something else. Using a mouse is far easier for larger screens than a touch screen interface. I think the mice are here to stay for much longer.
    caffeine
  • I'm all for thinking at the computer.

    Until it inevitably takes over our thoughts and we become a hivemind.
    RsonW
  • I want my fully immersive VR!
    Argon18

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