Are devices like this mouse above about to become extinct? There was an interesting article on the BBC Technology web pages yesterday reporting on how a Gartner analyst was forecasting the death of the computer mouse.  The gist of the analyst’s argument appears to be that, because of all the progress that has been made with new interfaces such as multi-touch and the innovations we are seeing from the gaming world, within 3 or 5 years we will have seen the mouse disappear.

Well I do agree that we are seeing a growth of new and successful ways of interacting with our computers, especially in gaming, the enormous success of the Nintendo Wii is testament to that.  But no one has used a mouse with a games console from the start, and I can’t yet see a 3D mouse being significantly more effective than a standard 2D mouse.  Multi-touch interfaces are now becoming more mainstream and readers of this blog will know that I am a fan of Apple’s touch interface.

Multi-touch makes sense on a consumer devices like a phone which has a flat surface, but on vertical computer screens it actually does not make too much sense. I do not want to be continuously lifting my arms to jab at a computer screen.  I believe that it is not the input devices alone that will have to change it is the computer as a whole that will need to evolve, including screens, input devices and the software.

So my feeling is that a computer mouse will be on yours and my desk for a long while yet.  The Logitech MX Revolution Cordless laser being my favourite at the moment.

What do you think? Is the computer mouse going to become extinct soon?