Ergonomic Software Eliminates Mouse Clicking

ThinSkin writes "GentleMouse is an ergonomic software program that eliminates the need to click the mouse by translating cursor movements into mouse actions, providing an easy way to perform mouse actions without manually pressing buttons or scrolling. ExtremeTech's review of the GentleMouse provides an in-depth look of this unusual software and was quite pleased with its "intuitive interface, execution, and software options" but the software "cannot overcome issues in certain apps where clicking a mouse is essential, such as when gaming or designing graphics." Here's a video tutorial of the GentleMouse in action."

Comments

All well and good

[LiquidCoooled]

I like the look and the idea of the software, but I can't find a download link to click.

Re:All well and good

[stanmann]

Wow, thats intensely obnoxious, and very poorly designed. its very difficult to convince it to select the middle menu options, and it windowpanes at its convienience.

crapola

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, mouse gestures are so great. Nothing like some piece of crap software randomly interfering with what you are trying to do.

How about no mouse clicks at all?

[mynickwastaken]

Have a look here: http://www.dontclick.it/

Great, now only 4 fingers to go

[GodfatherofSoul]

The problem with the typical user-computer interface paradigm is that we have to use a mouse at all (save game playing and graphics design). Moving my hand from the home position every time I need the precision of a mouse pointer is a huge annoyance and waste of time and effort. More so than pushing my index finger down.

Re:Great, now only 4 fingers to go

[an.echte.trilingue]

The problem with the typical user-computer interface paradigm is that we have to use a mouse at all (save game playing and graphics design). Moving my hand from the home position every time I need the precision of a mouse pointer is a huge annoyance and waste of time and effort. More so than pushing my index finger down. Every DE I know of of allows for pretty fast keyboard maneuver around the screen. The fact that so few people bother to learn to use it speaks volumes in favor of the utility of a mouse, I think.

It is an ingrained thought process in humans to see, reach and grab. The mouse translates this to the computer interface: we see something we want, we "reach" to it with the pointer, and we "grab" by clicking on it. I think it works pretty well, except for those unfortunate enough to have a physical disability such as arthritis.

Coming soon...

[Quiet_Desperation]

The GentleMouse II - This next gen mouse will not only click the button and scroll for you, but it will automatically move the mouse pointer for you. You don't even have to touch the mouse. Works with the Honeywell Internal Viteous Eye Sensor (sensor and implantation surgery sold separately). Leaves hands free for interweb pr0n.

The GentleMouse GX - You not only don't have to touch the mouse, you don't have to even be near the computer thanks to the new DARPA MindLink WaveSender Interface (Majestic Ultra DOD security rating required and available separately). Now you fat lazy bastards don't even have to get out of bed!

The GentleMouse EXTREME! - The entire computer is just an neurochemical overlay in your brain. Perfect for coma patients, or people who wish they were in a coma. Your subconscious mind does all the work without any intrustion into conscious awareness. You'll just have to trust us that it's working.

It's not that new

[WPL510]

Reminds me of Optimoz or Sensiva; both are mouse gesture programs that have been around for years. (Optimoz being a browser extension for firefox) Fun stuff, though not actually very new.

Re:I like clicking!

[Tsiangkun]

my name is tsiangkun and I'm a habitual mouse clicker too.
In the old days, I would tap my pencil or chew on a pen cap
when I was thinking through a problem or just wasting time.
In the digital age, clicking the mouse repeatedly and
rapidly is my new vice. I need help, and admission is the first
step.

OMG

[Brad1138]

eliminates the need to click the mouse

We have hit an all new low on the laziness scale.

The solution more complex that the problem?

[asadodetira]

Nice, but the motion seems more complicated than just clicking.
In my opinion the perfect input device should not have moving parts, just two microphones. Here's a description of a purely acoustic keyboard.
http://nanoquimica.awardspace.com.nyud.net:8080/So undkey.htmLINK

Re:The solution more complex that the problem?

[swilver]

Costly to design and manufacture

They can't be serious... I use keyboards which cost me $5, costly? My ass. These keyboards will last for years, and basically I dispose of them when I cannot be bothered to clean them anymore. I don't buy into the wireless crap, or the crap keyboards with 15 extra buttons and an integrated calculator I don't need.

Furthermore, this system has the same problems as voice-input -- it can do silly things if other stuff is going in the room. It doesn't seem to allow for you to "move" the keyboard (as it then wouldn't know anymore which key you are pressing). There's no feedback from the keys... and best of all: how does it know I'm holding down a key? Sure, tapping makes noise, but lifting my finger doesn't.

I also find it highly amusing this "technology" is patented, and yet again, there's no working prototype.

RSI?

[PresidentEnder]

I've never experienced aches or pains from a mouse. Then again, I'm 19. Still, carpal tunnel, arthritis, and RSI seem much more reasonable from the motions necessary to press the keys on the old-style clicky keyboard that I use than the miniscule mouse-click movement. Not that I'm trying to troll; I'm curious. Has anyone here ever gotten repetitive-stress injuries from clicking a mouse? Wouldn't typing the y, h, and d keys kill your finger much quicker?

Re:RSI?

[Peganthyrus]

Back around 2000 or 2001, my right index finger decided 'clicking is bad'. I put part of the blame on me starting to use Flash back then: the easiest way to get into a symbol to tweak it is to double-click on it. This is a common task, so my double-clicking went up a lot. Or it may have just been years of mousing around coming home to roost; I dunno.

I tried more 'ergonomic' mice for a while and the pain I'd feel every time I clicked lessened. Four buttons mapped to click, double-click, click-toggle, and right-click helped. But it still hurt to use my right index finger to click.

Eventually I got a small Wacom tablet (since I'm an artist, a pen was a desierable thing anyway) and pretty much swore off mice. On the rare occasions I use one - using someone else's computer - my right index finger will start complaining very shortly. If I keep going that tendon might start complaining all the way at the other end, up in the elbow, as well.

I'm not a touch-typist; I mostly type with the second and third fingers of my hands. The week I swapped my keyboard to Dvorak and tried to learn to touch-typing was a week of constantly rising wrist pain. I listened to my body and went back to letting my hands float loosely across the keyboard!

Computers are really, really horrible for your hands, and anything that tries to encourage you to spend less time exerting force through wrists constricted by being turned ninety degrees is a very good idea.

Re:Typical Windows-centric review

[barutanseijin]

That's because it's only really an issue for Windows. On linux, one already has "an ergonomic software program that eliminates the need to click the mouse". It's called *vi* or emacs. OSX comes with both, too.

Great!

[tknd]

Now Apple can justify selling computers that have mouses with no buttons.

Re:Typical Windows-centric review

[AaxelB]

From TFA:

GentleMouse is so far available only to Windows users - excluding Vista. Mac users can expect to see something available later this year.

Try reading.

Re:finally

[SEWilco]

Yes, that clicking was so much work. But how will I buy stuff on Amazon.com now?

Touchscreen

[Doc Ruby]

The mouse was a teaching aide to introduce users to the idea of moving the cursor on the screen the way they'd move a real object on their desk. Touchscreen tech was too crude in the early 1970s, or even in the 1980s, to introduce for direct pointing.

But now it works. Over a decade of PDA touchscreens has funded R&D that can put a precise, stable point just above the fingernail or stylus of any user.

Why do I have to use even a little trackpad in short strokes for indirect control of the cursor, when I could just point directly at that cursor? And why can't I use multiple fingers to describe lines, polygons, movement directions, multiple selections, and everything else I do with real objects on my real desktop?