Re: [9fans] mouse replacement

[Dave Lukes <davel@anvil.com>]

Gorka guardiola wrote:
>  I used one an didn't work if you wore glasses and was very very
>  tiring for the eyes. You kept your eyes open and go dryness, your
>  neck got stiff and was very tiresome.

Also, every time an attractive person of the appropriate gender
enters your field of view, you lose control:-).
They've tried similar systems for wheelchair steering and missile guidance.
Same problem.

Also, changing your eyes from a seeing to a pointing device sounds 
dubious in concept
and, as Gorka says, it is painful and dangerous.
(OTOH so are mice.)

I used a voice recognition system many years ago: ditto.
It only works if there are no distractions.

Also, your voice and eyes aren't modal:
there's no easy way to say "I'm not pointing/dictating now".

I've always thought that a combination of voice recognition
and movement detection (lip reading) would be good:
not only would you be able to talk quietly (or even mime)
but also it could stop listening when you turn away from the screen.

People seem to look down on hand-operated pointing devices
as a poor second to some imaginary better pointing device which doesn't 
exist.
Considering that their design was probably mostly through accident and 
necessity,
mice and (my favourite) trackballs don't do too badly.

Also, hands are already multipurpose and are good at pointing (cf. feet):
giving them another job to do is a minor change.

DaveL