lmjabreu's blog

The computer mouse may someday become an endangered species. Instead of rolling a mouse around to move a cursor around on the screen, more and more users will gesture with their fingers on touch screens and multi-touch trackpads, analysts say.

Reads an article published today on PhysOrg. The article also states that in the next 5 years we may stop using a computer mouse, and that some may have already abandoned theirs, it mentions Microsoft Surface, Apple iPhone, HP TouchSmart and a couple of other devices, but in my opinion it doesn’t nail it.

trackpad

Something happened when I got my 15″ Early 2008 Macbook Pro in April ‘08, something that also happened to a couple of friends of mine, and my girlfriend, they’re all mac (laptop) users, as I am, and we’ve stopped using a mouse, there’s no need for it.

I’m a mac user for a week now and apart from gaming never felt the need of using a mouse, I think it’s the gestures; 3 finder swipe, 2 finger scroll, rotate and size of the trackpad.

Not an actual quote, more like a sum of what he told me on a couple of sentences, but I think that’s it, that’s what makes the trackpad replace the mouse: size and gestures. Also interesting is the fact that he, as a desktop user, and my girlfriend used to use a mouse at all times, my gf still does at work on her desktop so it’s an even bigger contrast.

I for one had a Tablet before my current Macbook Pro, it was a cool experience in the first months, but then it got old, it was a convertible and as a convertible I missed the physical keyboard a lot, and when in tablet mode using the stylus on the screen wasn’t a good experience, screen needed to be more steady, and the os/applications didn’t have a good pen input support (some, as in lots, didn’t even display the input that brings up the virtual keyboard/Hand Writting Recognition), it’s far more easy to scroll using the 2 finger gesture than touching the scrollbar with your finger or stylus for example, dragging on the other hand was nicer to do using a stylus.

Anyways, nowadays laptop sales surpass desktop sales so we’re having more and more laptop users, more and more trackpads, most of those laptops are running windows (despite mac laptop sales being on fire, +28% since latest refresh compared to the same period of ‘07), and pc laptop designers seem to have not noticed the increasing size of Apple’s laptop trackpads, so, even for models released today, like HP’s TouchSmart TX2Z, feature a tiny trackpad:

above: 13" Late '08 Macbook, below: HP TouchSmart TX2Z

I picked that one because it was released today, but I never saw a windows laptop with a large trackpad, it may exist but it isn’t common at all. Besides size and gestures, there’s something else that’s important for trackpad usability: the dreaded bevel, I don’t know who though it was a good idea to put a bevel around the screen of mobile phones, windows mobile devices, trackpads, lucky us the mobile phone lost it many years ago, the iPhone made the windows mobile manufacturers remove it from their devices( apparently it makes it easier to use your fingers instd. of stylus, who would’ve guessed! btw I know it was introduced to protect the screen from scratches but that was a long time ago ), and now, what will it take for pc laptop designers to remove all those bevelled trackpads, left and right mouse buttons from their designs.

So, having read this, do you also think the mouse will be extinct on the next 5 years? I think not, 5 years it’s a long time span, much can happen, both on the PC side and its many manufacturers plus Microsoft with their MultiTouch-friendly Windows 7 and Apple, I doubt this established standard will be extinguished.

Oh, and one more thing, those of you who believe a Minority Report interface would be cool for everyday use should have a little chat with the Starfire actors, apparently waving your arms all day isn’t something you want to do, and that is also true when it comes to regular touchscreens, same it is to say that direct manipulation devices are destined to fail for everyday use, unless the screen switches place with your keyboard and that would create a whole new batch of problems.

Oh Oh Oh(no it’s not Santa), and one more thing.. aww I forgot while writing that silly ho ho ho joke, heh nevermind =]

Edit: ah! I remembered, it’s another quote from that article:

The demise will be hastened by the move toward 3D environments

Re-he-he-heally?