Analyst predicts computer mouse dead in 3-5 years
- July 17th, 2008
- Read 1847 times
- 7 Comments
Gartner analyst Steve Prentice has predicted that the computer mouse will become a thing of the past over the next 3-5 years. "The mouse works fine in the desktop environment but for home entertainment or working on a notebook it’s over," he said.
In other news, “my ass.”
Prentice cites such groundbreaking interface devices like the Guitar Hero controller and Panasonic’s hand gesture system, along with various facial recognition systems as the reason that mice are becoming less and less useful. While these new devices may make games more engaging, it’s my opinion that it’ll be a long time before we see the mouse go away for good. It’s been a standard for too long and too many people are comfortable with using a mouse to control their computers — desktops AND laptops.
Remember speech recognition? I trained my Windows Vista machine and got it to where I could absolutely control the whole thing without a mouse. What a day that was – and I mean “a” day, because I was back to using my mouse in no time. Until someone develops something that’s easier and faster to use than a mouse AND somehow talks users into adopting it and developers into writing software for it as the default interface device for an entire platform, the mouse, as we know it, will be around for quite some time.
Let’s not forget first person shooters for the PC, either. For my money, there’s no better way to play first person shooters than with a mouse.
MB
2008-07-17 10:44:31
This guy is a retard, the mouse wont die. I agree with doug, too many people are comfortable with it. And just because you own a laptop doesn’t mean you wont use a mouse when your at home at a desk. You still need a mouse on the notebook for some programs.
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Sinclair C5
2008-07-17 11:35:32
This is story is very silly and designed to do nothing but grab the headlines. Gartner are just a managment consultant company, they do not anything about information technology. They routinely shout out daft predictions which never turn out to be true.
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Snufkin
2008-07-17 18:19:29
I dunno…..I haven’t even got a mouse for this MacBook. I could borrow one from the iMac, but never found any reason to. With the two-finger gestures I could even manage without the trackpad button if need be.
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Partners in Grime
2008-07-17 19:19:46
My Mac takes out the trash via voice command. :) Now if only I could get it to do the dishes.
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Mathue
2008-07-17 22:08:59
I think I’ll print this one out and file it in my file cabinet along with the rest of my ‘paperless office’.
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Katchoo
2008-07-18 01:29:13
Maybe if Microsoft releases a full-fledged touchscreen OS (and not a hacked version of Vista) for wide distribution, then THAT might start to put some nails into the mouse’s coffin.
Even that wouldn’t kill the mouse off though. 3-5 years? Not unless something comes out that we’ve never seen before which completely revolutionizes how we interact with our computers.
My vote is for Borg assimilation.
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Brandon
2008-07-21 08:58:55
Ok, honestly how are you going to get all of the tennagers and kids that play first person shooters (one of the most online played games) to stop using a mouse. You cant result to voice command for that (”turn 32.5 degrees and shot 3 times, shoot 3 times again”) it just wont work. Another is touch screen, if you have ever tried playing a game on a touch screen, you know they will never take away the mouse.
Also, computer illiterate people, they cant even use a computer with how simple and user friendly they are now. With the computer becoming more and more of a essential then they will have to try and learn to use a touch screen or voice command? I think not, they don’t know how to move a simple hand device, how are they going to troubleshoot through a voice command or touch screen.
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