[OT] User Input (was Market Share)

[Rob Cozens]

Hi Scott,

>1A) Try lifting a stylus/pen up from the tablet, and placing the stylus back
>at exactly the point where you first pulled away.  Alternatively, try laying
>the the stylus down on the tablet, and then picking it back up at precisely
>where you were holding it.

Why?  Perhaps you need that kind of precision editing images, but I'm 
selecting controls & menuItems, dragging objects, inputting ink to 
text, and placing an insertion point in text.  None of that requires 
repositioning the cursor at the exact pixel location it occupied previously.

>2A) Try working in the above described way for hours on end, without moving
>your hand.  Sure, the above is *possible* for simple tasks, but is virtually
>impossible for actual work without some level of strain, or at least
>discomfort. Practically, you are going to move your hand.  A lot.

I did so yesterday.  From 8AM to 6PM, + two hours later, I was 
working on a new Rev app--with my keyboard in a drawer.  My writing 
hand was less cramped than it would have been if I had been using the 
mouse all day.

Ever since written language was invented, some segment of the 
population has spent a major part of their working day with a pen or 
pencil in their hand.  Was carpel tunnel syndrome known to mankind 
before there was a mouse?

Note I didn't write "don't try to move your hand", but "see how much 
of your screen real estate you can reach with a pen without moving 
your hand."  Of course I move my hand!  My point is I can move it 
more quickly and shorter distances to accomplish the same task with a 
pen than a mouse.

Over the years I have used mice, trackpads,and trackballs, and IMO 
the pen is mightier than the mouse.

Rob Cozens
CCW, Serendipity Software Company

"And I, which was two fooles, do so grow three;
Who are a little wise, the best fooles bee."

from "The Triple Foole" by John Donne (1572-1631)