felixg

Microsoft began to suffer when they forgot that they are a software company. They were believing that they are a Windows/Office company. Those cash cows were milked to death, additionally killing everything else along the way. At some point (way later than they should have) they understood what was happening and where it leads. The solution is going back to software (and its cloud form). Sell anything, target everything. Develop for widest possible audience, but also pursue niche markets. Like Microsoft did in the '80. Another point is developer attraction. They need "cool", and this kind of hardcore hacking is cool. The new Microsoft wants to sell any software/service, no matter the hardware nor the OS. To transform from the old Microsoft to the new version, they need cool software. And who can make this happen? Cool developers.

SmartNav by NaturalPoint (http://www.naturalpoint.com/smartnav/). I'm using it for over 8 years for moving the cursor. Clicking is via a regular mouse, though voice and switches are supported. All typing is done through an on-screen virtual keyboard (Hot Virtual Keyboard). After short self-training the speed and accuracy are above of a regular mouse. Neck fatigue is a rare issue even after 8-10 hours of daily usage, the "trick" is calibrating the settings for minimal movement. I'm using this setup for everything from programming to some light gaming (RTS). Adjusting and configuring the environment can bring substantial improvement. For example, using ReSharper for Visual Studio vastly reduces typing.