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Completely Disagree

coreyb42 15th Dec 2008

I could see these things becoming more common, but not overtaking the traditional methods of input.

The lack of tactile response on a touch screen/projected keyboard would be a disaster for most people who know how to type. How do you find the home position without looking at the keyboard? How do you feel individual keys? For highly portable devices (phones), where real estate on the device is at a premium, this method may overtake a physical keyboard. For those who use the T9 method of input, this would likely be greatly advantageous (though some friends of mine can almost match my typing ability with their T9 phones). For those who use a full keyboard - Blackberry and other smart phones - this may be a major inconvenience.

Voice command will never be perfect. Just like reading lips, ambiguity is introduced, which will likely result in a much higher typo rate than if one were typing. It works very well for calling a contact, but wouldn't work at all for, say writing a program or playing a video game.

The problem is that current methods of input are actually very efficient when paired with current operating systems. A computer will always require a keyboard of some sort, and the virtual keyboard just doesn't cut it for many people.

A direct brain-computer interface would likely overtake these input devices completely. Any input method would need to be both flawless and very efficient in order to obsolete current methods of input. These technologies aren't even close in usefulness or flawlessness to the keyboard and mouse. While this may change in the future, it would require quite an innovative device.

If they come up with a touch screen that has keys you can feel - maybe. But, then, why buy a touch screen that emulates a keyboard for several hundred (or more) dollars, when you can get a real keyboard, that doesn't take up part of your display, for 1/10th the price?