A warmer story about the demise of the computer mouse

Touch screens are useful for hand held devices, but think about the RSI (repetitive strain injury) one would experience if we did not have the computer mouse. Can you imagine reaching over the desktop to touch screen all your functions? I'd be bed-ridden in about a week! I think the warmer thought about this mouse story ending is this.... the computer mouse is here to stay for a very long time for all desk top computer users.

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Death of the computer mouse? - Wii & iPhone show a different future

By Dave Parrack
from Tech Blorge

There are an estimated one billion people hooked up to the Internet around the world, and the vast majority of those people will use a computer to do so. And what comes hand in hand with a computer? The humble mouse, a peripheral essential to doing almost anything on a computer, but which is very rarely cited for being the marvel that it is. And according to some, the mouse could be on its way out.

This year marks the 40 year anniversary for the mouse, with Dr Douglas Engelbart inventing it while working for the Stanford Research Institute in 1968. Unfortunately for him, he never received a penny for his invention, and the patent ran out in 1987, just before the computer revolution really hit the mainstream.

At this point in time, the mouse is utterly indispensable, being used by millions of people all around the world. However, there are the beginnings of some new technological advances around, which have lead some to predict the death of the mouse in the next 3-5 years. According to the BBC, a Gartner analyst, thinks new ways of interacting with computers, and technology, will take over in the very near future, and make the mouse completely obsolete.

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