The death of the mouse has been greatly exagerated

The death of the mouse has been greatly exagerated

I was listening to the radio recently when the commentator cited an analyst report that said that the mouse, which was invented some 30 years ago, would be fazed out in the next 3-5 years. And with videos like this one from Jeff Han at the Ted conference it seems like its just around the corner. But after shopping for a new mouse the other day at Best Buy, I’m not so sure.

If you ever watched a parent or grandparent use a current computer, you will realize that even after 20 years of ubiquitous use around the computer industry, there are lots of users who still have a problem with how the mouse / cursor paradigm works. Imagine trying to instill a new multi-touch pattern on current and future software and how it impacts the people who use it.

Aside from the years of work people have put into the mouse paradigm, if you have any idea of how computer operating systems are made, you have a good idea how hard this would be to do inside of 10 years, much less to do it in 3-5 years. Remember that it just took 6 years for the largest manufacturer of OSs,  Microsoft, to change its operating system from Windows XP to Windows Vista.

I have no doubt that the touch-screen idea will take off at some point especially thanks to products like Apple’s iPhone, but if you’ve ever used the keyboard on the iPhone you have a good idea how far the implementation has to go before it becomes the dominate way in which we interact with computers.

Everyone wants to be Tom Cruise in Minority Report, but I think we will have to wait a little longer.

Posted by Tom Risse | Filed in Uncategorized | No Comments »