Using Dual Mice

[roid]

this would be hard! i mean, using a desktop is hard enough without tactile feedback. The buttons are so small and hard to find, you have to be really careful to hit the right one - We're just well practiced.

But to hit buttons without looking at it? Coz you are looking at whatevber you are doing in your other hand instead. How do you hit the button? When i'm cooking and using my left hand to grab something i flail around until i feel what i want. But you can't flail around on a PC desktop, there's NO TACTILENESSSS

YOUR THOUGHTS PLS

[Testiculese]

Same as using two joysticks. No problems.

[roid]

what?! This is navigating the desktop.
it's nothing like using 2 joysticks, unless you are controlling 2 seperate ships at once or some madness of this nature.

[Testiculese]

oh, I didn't actually watch the video. Two for desktop, eh...

[Richard Cranium]

I don't really think the mind is able to multi task like that so it would be very difficult to use for a single person. Now perhaps two or three people using the same computer perhaps in a multi monitor or very large monitor setup you might get some benefits. It would sort of bring new meaning to the term ‘collaborative computing’.

RC

[Sirius]

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[Duper]

Another thing you might find interesting.

wow.. just.. WOW.

Roid, I don't quite understand what you're getting at. I type without looking at the keys, why would working 2 mice on one desktop be any different? However, I think RC is right, the mind isn't really setup to multi task like that. I'm sure it could be done, but most likely with sublime patterns and you would mostly likely really only focusing on one thing at a time. Your eyes might be whipping back and forth incredibly fast, but you would still only be looking at one cursor at a time. remember the Arcade game called Robotron?

[dissent]

Another thing you might find interesting.

I can't wait for the Microsoft version.

[Sirius]

Microsoft... would probably wreck it about three times in a row, followed by Apple demonstrating an actually elegant implementation of the system, which MS would then copy three years later.

If their current track record is anything to go by.

[snoopy]

If you watch the video carefully, you will see that the operator is really only using one thing at a time. When he's typing, it looks like the top one is actually being paid attention to, while the bottom one is just key jamming. When he's using the two mice, he kinda switches between doing something on the one and doing something on this other mouse. (I don't count scrolling with the wheel as doing something, because it doesn't require attention.) My conclusion: while it's a novel concept, a single person can't really keep up with much more than a single mouse and keyboard combination. Increased efficiency won't come from increasing the number of tools, it'll come from making the tools more powerful & easier to use. Like has already been said, the only way I can see this being really beneficial is if several people absolutely have to be working on the same desktop at the same time, and even then it would take some time to get used to not messing each other up. I agree with Roid

[Duper]

M....followed by Apple demonstrating an actually elegant implementation of the system...

At 3 times the price.

[Foil]

From what I could tell, the video was not a single operator with multiple mice, it was multiple operators with a mouse and keyboard each, all working on the same desktop.

[Chaos Death Saurer]

Still, that idea's pretty awesome. Imagine controlling a pyro like that.

[Sirius]

M....followed by Apple demonstrating an actually elegant implementation of the system...

At 3 times the price.

Well, yeah, that goes with the territory. You'll probably be able to get an open-source equivalent through Linux another few years later, but of course it will be designed by the same guys who perpetrated the GIMP user interface and will totally suck.

[Grendel]

Another thing you might find interesting.

I like it !

Still would like to see this one..

[roid]

Another thing you might find interesting.

wow.. just.. WOW.

Roid, I don't quite understand what you're getting at. I type without looking at the keys, why would working 2 mice on one desktop be any different? However, I think RC is right, the mind isn't really setup to multi task like that. I'm sure it could be done, but most likely with sublime patterns and you would mostly likely really only focusing on one thing at a time. Your eyes might be whipping back and forth incredibly fast, but you would still only be looking at one cursor at a time. remember the Arcade game called Robotron?

The biggest difference in using 2 hands on the keyboard is that the keyboard is a tactile interface, and it's ABSOLUTE - You don't have to search around to find your keys coz they are always in the same spot (absolute), and if you do have to momentarily search around you can feel around without looking (tactile).

The mouse isn't tactile, you don't feel the buttons as your cursor hovers over them. You can't use a mouse without looking at the screen. Well you can kinda, i often will whip upto the top right of the screen then back off a bit, and CLICK - knowing that there's a good chance i'll hit the (X) CLOSE button.

[roid]

Another thing you might find interesting.

yeah that's awesome. it's probabaly how it should be done. Coz the touchscreen makes it ABSOLUTE, you don't have to "pilot" a mouse to the button location and click - you just put your real-finger right on it. So it's way easier to put your finger on things you arn't directly looking at - just in your peripherial vision

Another thing you might find interesting.

I like it !

Still would like to see this one..

Yeah, that mixed with Grendel's multi-touchscreen would be so great. I have 2 hands and i really rely on BOTH of them in the real world to move stuff around quickly. So it'd be nice to put both hands in that 3D desktop "box" and move things around. Passing things between hands would be very nice. le-sigh

[MD-2389]

Still, that idea's pretty awesome. Imagine controlling a pyro like that.

I imagine it would be akin to two people in a tank in Battlefield 1942.

[Duper]

if yo look in the movies at the pyro cockpit, there are 2 joysticks.