Thursday, May 07, 2015

Multiple Mouse Pointers

We can use touch, mouse, keyboard, voice control, and even various camera based controls that Microsoft and Sony have introduced, and I have used MIDI devices since the 80's, but there is a missing feature on our computers. What if I want to use TWO mice and have TWO pointers?

I'm not sure if there are analogous missing features for other inputs, but just think about the mouse. I use two mice most of the time (much of my waking hours). I got used to using a left hand mouse when I was having back and neck issues years ago. We often have two or more screens. But there is only one pointer.

Someone needs to think of ways to separate the inputs - much like touch vs. mouse, only going a lot further.

With MIDI, there were always multiple inputs available either on the same channel, a separate channel, or globally. You can use a couple keyboards, a breath controller, etc. to control whatever device is set to listen. The 32 year old Musical Instrument Digital Interface specification for serial data streamed at low speed was an example of how the problem could be solved.

Why is nobody working on this?