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Anecdote from a friend who teaches a CS course at local university - kids these days arrive at a CS course not knowing how to use a mouse. Well, they obviously
by gambiting 2y ago
Anecdote from a friend who teaches a CS course at local university - kids these days arrive at a CS course not knowing how to use a mouse. Well, they obviously understand a concept of a mouse, but actually having experience with using a mouse? None, unless they are a gamer(which tbf, a lot of CS students are). But they get put on a computer in a lab with a mouse and keyboard and some of them genuienly struggle with the mouse. The explanation is simple - desktops are nearly extinct in homes unless you play games(and even then, it's a rare choice), so people have laptops and just use the touchpad as the default method of interaction.
- nkrisc 2y agoI think Apple captured this very concisely (for better or worse) in one of their ads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfR_Jj4grZE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfR_Jj4grZE "What's a computer?"
- jowea 2y agoI never understand how people can bear using a touchpad long term. Is carrying a mouse that hard?
- gambiting 2y agoIt's not about carrying a mouse. A staggering number of people don't work at any kind of desk anymore, teenagers included - you use the laptop while on a sofa, and that makes using a mouse inconvenient at best. And touchpads(especially on apple laptops) are ok nowadays.
- FuriouslyAdrift 2y agoI don't know why they don't put the touch above the keyboard. I am constantly hitting the touchpad while typing.
- jowea 2y agoWell I must be a weirdo because I literally would rather use a mouse on top of the laptop keyboard than use the touchpad
- r00fus 2y agoI think the mouse is critical with non-touchscreen interfaces. Smaller hit-targets, lots of on-screen buttons/menus, file manipulation, etc. The more and more modern desktop OSs evolve, the less of that is required. I want to open a file? I search for it using Win key / Spotlight - I just need to know the name or content. The day will come when LLMs come integrated with your desktop OS and abstract away even more of the screen elements and interactions...