Re:Poll: Will keyboards still be around in 20 years?
by 51Cards on Thursday January 06, 2011 @04:23PM
(#2077253)
Yes, definitely. I have pondered this fairly extensively but off the top of my head I'll try to remember some of my conclusions.
- ergonomics - holding arms up to a touchscreen for long periods is tiring
- tactile feedback... touchscreen keyboards lack it
- freedom of positioning... at least in desktop machines, they keyboard can be positioned independent of the display for comfort
- privacy... voice recognition is cool but I really don't want to be writing my girlfriend a love letter by voice while sitting on an airplane
- speed and accuracy... voice recognition will eventually match/surpass this but so far I haven't seen any other form of 'physical text input" that matches a good touch typist.
All said though, of course keyboards are going to occupy a smaller slice if the "input duty" than they do now. We're already coming up with nifty ways to input small requests, text messages, commands, etc. But I don't expect to ever see a "Scotty" moment in my lifetime...
"Oh, a keyboard... how quaint."
edit: one more thought... what will kill the keyboard? The day computers can accurately read our thoughts. When I can purely think input, then keyboards will be in trouble. As long as we have to use physical actions for expression, the keyboard is pretty safe.
- ergonomics - holding arms up to a touchscreen for long periods is tiring
- tactile feedback... touchscreen keyboards lack it
- freedom of positioning... at least in desktop machines, they keyboard can be positioned independent of the display for comfort
- privacy... voice recognition is cool but I really don't want to be writing my girlfriend a love letter by voice while sitting on an airplane
- speed and accuracy... voice recognition will eventually match/surpass this but so far I haven't seen any other form of 'physical text input" that matches a good touch typist.
All said though, of course keyboards are going to occupy a smaller slice if the "input duty" than they do now. We're already coming up with nifty ways to input small requests, text messages, commands, etc. But I don't expect to ever see a "Scotty" moment in my lifetime...
"Oh, a keyboard... how quaint."
edit: one more thought... what will kill the keyboard? The day computers can accurately read our thoughts. When I can purely think input, then keyboards will be in trouble. As long as we have to use physical actions for expression, the keyboard is pretty safe.