Say good bye to mouse "The mouse works fine in the desktop environment but for home entertainment or working on a notebook it’s over," declared analyst Steve Prentice.
He told BBC News that his prediction is driven by the efforts of consumer electronics firm which are making products with new interactive interfaces inspired by the world of gaming .
Naturally enough those in the business of making mice are not wholly in agreement that the end is nigh.
"The death of the mouse is greatly exaggerated," said Rory Dooley senior vice president and general manager of Logitech’s control devices unit.
Microsoft has said touch screens will be all pervasive .Logitech is the world’s biggest manufacturer of mice and keyboards and has sold more than 500 million mice over the last 20 years.
"This just proves how important a device the mouse is," said Mr Dooley. But he also agreed that the number of ways people can interact with a computers were rising and that his own company was manufacturing many of them.
"People have been talking about convergence for years," he said. "Today’s TV works as a computer and today’s computer works as a TV.
"The devices we use have been modified for our changing lifestyles but it doesn’t negate the value of the mouse," Mr Dooley explained.
"For all its faults, the keyboard will remain the primary text input device," he said. "Nothing is easily going to replace it. But the idea of a keyboard with a mouse as a control interface is the paradigm that I am talking about breaking down." credit (By Maggie Shiels ) source bbc news