Touch Screen technology – the Death Knell for the Computer Mouse

It is now nearly 40 years old but one of the most familiar office tools is about to become obsolete, according to analysts.

Invented nearly 40 years ago by Dr Douglas Engelbart while working for the Stanford Research Institute; billions of computer mice are now in operation all over the world.

However, thanks to new technologies such as touch screens and facial recognition software, it seems compute mouse’s days are numbered with analysts predicting that they could be completely obsolete within five years.

Recent years has seen an explosion of new input devices particularly with the expanding PDA and mobile phone markets where touch screen is now becoming the number one input method.

Touch Screen technology has actually been with us since the 1970’s although traditionally they were expensive and normally only used in industrial applications.

However, recent advances in technology now mean touch screen is relatively cheap and they can be found in everything from mobile phones, ATM machines, information points and even microwave ovens.

It is predicted that touch screens along with other technologies such as gestural systems like facial recognition are soon-to-become the replacement for the mouse.

The main advantage of a touch screen over the conventional mouse, keyboard and monitor layout is that the screen itself acts as both input and output devices. Not only does this save space but also it means that a computer can be placed in locations where a keyboard and mouse layout would be impractical such as outside or left unattended.

Touch screen technology is also widely used in industrial applications as not having a keyboard and mouse means that contaminants such as grease, dirt and dust cannot enter and clog up the input devices. Touch screens can also be enclosed in an industrial computer enclosure protecting it from water, dust and even explosive atmospheres allowing a computer to be placed even in the most inhospitable environments.

Touch screen technology is changing the way we interact with computers and allowing technology to be placed in areas where traditional computers would not have been placed.