October 8, 2012
The iPad and Other Touch Screen Devices Are Crowding Out The Computer Mouse
When I first saw Ariana Eunjung Cha’s article title in The Washington Post, (“The mouse faces extinction as computer interaction evolves“), my first reaction was that the computer mouse will be around for a long time to come. But after reading the article my opinion is now attenuated. Before reading the piece, I felt the mouse was still unchallenged as the ideal computer interface because of its precision, and I still feel that way. If you are working in a program that requires pinpoint accuracy, the mouse is still the best computer interface on the cheap. Trackballs and trackpads work well, but the mouse, and it’s more expensive cousin, the digitizer (used with engineering applications), offer a precision that cannot be found in other computer interfaces, especially touch screen interfaces. But does precision matter?
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