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Could a Pen Replace the Keyboard?
theluckman writes "Reuters has this story on how new devices like "digital pens" could possibly replace keyboards as primary data entry devices. Maybe so, but I would need my pen to make cool clicking sounds."
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After all these years of typing, I can write way faster and more accurately with a keyboard than I could with a pen. My handwriting is for shit these days. And I couldn't imagine trying to write code with a pen!
"Being good human beings, we've adjusted admirably to contraptions such as keyboard and mouse pointing devices," said Charles Golvin, a mobile phone industry analyst with Forrester Research. "But these are very, very poor ways to go about interacting with such machines."
Well, it's not like we evolved with a pen in our hand either! It's just a very, very poor way of interacting with paper. (and as others are pointing out, a poorer way than interacting with paper than say, a typewriter is)
Kurzweil is betting that voice recognition is the future. I don't know, a full day of talking, and an office full of talkers, could get pretty rough after a while, though I suppose they could pretty quickly get into subvocalizations.
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
For inputting the english language, i can type far faster than i write, and i believe most people who ultilize computers on a day to day basis can.
However, when I type in japanese, it takes me a lot longer to type the character phonetically and then select the proper character from a list to use. Pen input of complex characters would be signifigantly faster because, assuming the character regonizer is good enough, you wouldnt need to select the character from a list.
The other main advantage of a pen is that you need not lift your hand off the keyboard to reach the mouse to manipulate a GUI. Granted for a "power user" you would have a number of hotkeys/shortcuts handy on the keyboard, but for someone who is already using the pen, its just point and click. Its also easier for someone who is just learning to navigate a computer as it is just like using a mouse.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
250 WPM is not uncommon among most commercial secretaries
uh, methinks you'd better check your sources; 80 WPM is considered a good speed for an experienced typist. Even with a dvorak layout you'd be hard-pressed to find someone capable of hitting 120WPM plus. 250 WPM is so ridiculously high that it calls into question the validity of the rest of your assertions.
I have been legally blind my whole life, writing things on paper was a problem for me, I just coudn't keep up with other kids. So in 1985 I was given typing lessons (good ole IBM electric...) and the next year I got my first personal computer. My productivity went through the roof after I learned how to type, my marks were up and I had neatly typed notes that were easy for me to read. My typing ability coupled with my love for computers ended up culminating into my "dream job"; programmer.
I, for one, could not imagine writing as much as I do without my friend; the QWERTY keyboard.
crazy dynamite monkey
The author says:"But users everywhere still work on lowly keyboards not so different from the ones that powered the Smith Coronas and Ollivettis of yesterday" Perhaps the reason people are still using keyboards is that it's a good design that serves it's purpose efficiently, and doesn't need to be modified.
"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." -William Blum
One of the reasons the Palm Pilot did so well is it was easy to learn and use. You can learn Graffiti in an hour or so, and using it becomes automatic within a couple of days.
A piece of equipment that uses familiar input devices (pens) is poised to gather more customers than a keyboard-based one. It may tick-off the techno literati (the same ones who scoff at AOL's customer's as simpletons) but businesses will continue to look for ways to reach a mass market. AOL, Microsoft, Motorola, et. al. would rather have the customers (and their cash) than slash-dotters' approval.
(Besides, the article points out that pens are targeted at mobile phones and sub-notebook mobile computing devices. On-screen keyboards are uniformely awful, and fold-out ones are simply awkward.)