Sci/Tech Mouse faces extinction as computer interaction evolves

[tom_mai78101]

Swipe, swipe, pinch-zoom. Fifth-grader Josephine Nguyen is researching the definition of an adverb on her iPad and her fingers are flying across the screen.

Her 20 classmates are hunched over their own tablets doing the same. Conspicuously absent from this modern scene of high-tech learning: a mouse.

Nguyen, who is 10, said she has used one before — once — but the clunky desktop computer/monitor/keyboard/mouse setup was too much for her.

"It was slow," she recalled, "and there were too many pieces." Gilbert Vasquez, 6, is also baffled by the idea of an external pointing device named after a rodent. "I don't know what that is," he said with a shrug.

Nguyen and Vasquez, who attend public schools in San Jose, California, are part of the first generation growing up with a computer interface that is vastly different from the one the world has gotten used to since the dawn of the personal-computer era in the 1980s.

Mouse faces extinction as computer interaction evolves

Today's kids are growing up with a computer interface that is vastly different from the one the world has gotten used to since the dawn of the personal-computer era in the 1980s.

www.smh.com.au

 

[KaerfNomekop]

WHAT?!

 

[FireCat]

Such horrible news. Well, better get 'em while you Can.

 

[KaerfNomekop]

Said the cat, as he toyed with a small furry creature in his paws.

 

[Accname]

I cant see what the next generation of professional gamers is going to say about this. I dont think you could split marines with a touch screen.

 

[KaerfNomekop]

The next generation of professional gamers will be playing either on consoles or on tablets. Or, most likely, phones.

 

[YourFace]

What is that ten year old smoking?

 

[Accname]

The next generation of professional gamers will be playing either on consoles or on tablets. Or, most likely, phones.

I dont think so, RTS-Games are the best for professional E-Sports (in my opinion) and i think many agree on this. dont think RTS-Games will ever get big on consoles or mobile devices, the display quality and control accuracy is best on a pc.

 

[xPass]

Worst news ever in my life..

 

[Dan]

Yeah... I bet Apple WISHES this was true.

People, technology does more than evolve. Sometimes it cries for attention. Is the Iphone 5 better than the Iphone 4? Not really... Are 3rd party companies catching up to Apple products? Yes. Are tablets the FUTURE? For now... because they are the new fad. Hell, laptops aren't even unanimously used for gaming. Why would everyone suddenly switch to tablets? Desktops are still the majority.

Windows 8 is will be a "cool and hip" new way to look at things... Please, Give me a list anyday. I don't want to look at crazy colored pictures, I want to look at a list of programs / files and pick from them after sorting them alphabetically.

I think people let themselves get caught up in it all. You don't NEED things just because they are new. Our hands have not changed in the last few decades, so I doubt that a mouse will get any less practical than it already is. I don't ever have the urge to touch my desktop screen to scroll, etc. The keyboard + mouse are like an instrument. You can invent more, but it won't make this one less useful or appealing.

 

[Sim]

Lol, "faces extinction".

Way to over-generalize an article's title due to a small community (some schools in California).
Mouses are maybe being replaced in there, but they are still largely used everywhere else. And since when can you take a 6-years old kid's word as being of great value? He's barely old enough to think, and this particular kid has grown up with an iPad. I didn't know how to use a mouse either at 6 years old...

In my opinion, this article tries to be sensational to get some read, and succeeds at doing so.

 

[SouLEDGE]

"It was slow," she recalled

This baffles me, for clicking here and there, yes touch screens are better... but that's it... really that's it..., but again this is just from a gamer's POV,

As for the mouse, it will not go extinct, its too integrated, if you can show me a faster form of
input for moving your cross-hair over the enimies head, lemme know, but before you've
even shown me...

 

[Wummi]

The mouse will never go extinct. It's too useful to become extinct. Especially for RTS games and games like Dota. I personally prefer gaming on my PC than on any tablet.

 

[KaerfNomekop]

I didn't know how to use a mouse either at 6 years old...

O.O

Well, this current generation of kids is also growing up with similar technology, albeit slower. "Facing extinction" might not mean much to us, but to them it says a lot.

 

[warcraft7]

Lol ya...RTS on consoles, just look at halo wars

Kind of a meh article...the mouse wont die so long as PC gamers are around. I dont get why parents aren't teaching their kids the values of a mouse and how far we've come in technology.

 

[camelCase]

I cant see what the next generation of professional gamers is going to say about this. I dont think you could split marines with a touch screen.

Dammit, beaten to it

 

[Accname]

Now that i think about it, i doubt a touch screen is really faster to use then a mouse and a keyboard.
With the keyboard you have the "end" and "page up/down" and "pos1" buttons which make navigation through a document incredibly fast, much faster then touch-scroll could ever get.
Also, you can set a mouse to be pretty sensitive, this makes mouse control really fast if you are used to it. A little motion of your hand can scroll the screen by a huge portion with very sensitive settings.

What i think why schools are using touch pads rather then mouses is that a mouse can be unplugged and i can imagine the kids stealing the mouses, or throwing them, or dropping them.
If they use a touch screen and the table/screen is mounted somewhere its pretty safe.

 

[FireCat]

Well, at least we don't have to worry (for now anyway) lol

 

[Slapshot136]

umm.. the mouse never has had much history going for it in terms of 6yr old gaming capabilities.. once they hit 10-12 and their hands actually fit on the mouse/keyboard, then the mouse starts being more competitive..

 

[Varine]

Mouse won't go away as long as there is a demand for it. I prefer a mouse than I do touch screens, personally.