Funny you mentioned this. Some years ago, I was delivering a new computer to one customer. I started to teach him how to use the keyboard, by pressing Alt-F to go to the File menu, and then do your stuff there, or even just press CTRL-S to save the document. The guy, stubbornly insisted on using his poor plastic thing, the mouse. So, I let him sit there and fool around with it for a while. But you know, he took a few moments for every little thing he needed to do.
Finally, I made him an offer: Now, I said, let us try this out. Me being blind, and hence prefering the keyboard commands, you being sighted prefering the mouse. Let us do ten operations here in this very application, you go ahead with your mouse, and I will do the same tasks with the keyboard. Then, let's see, who is performing the quickest. Do I need to tell you, who won that game? OK, I am a driven computer person, he wasn't. But still, I do believe, in most cases you work far quicker with good shortcut keyboard commands. Even before people will have reached their mouse, I will have pressed the two or three keystrokes, to perform a certain task. And, quite often, when working with sighted people, I hear comments like 'oh, let's see, where did my mouse pointer go?' And, then they start to rush that thing back and forth, so as to find out, where on the screen they are. And having found out, it is time to start moving it to the desired position. Finally, they can start clickng the mouse. Pfew! I am three lines ahead with my typing, at this moment; having performed the task way back! (Smile!) You know, sometimes I get the feeling, that if soemthing is technically posible, LET'S GO FOR IT! No matter if it is practical, just let's go for it; cause it is technically possible. How did people ever do without a mouse? Yes, the way GW has sorted things out, with keyboard control for the mouse - I guess - is some of the better ways to do the job, for the blind. OK, it might not always be the perfect solution, but in most cases work pretty fine. Besides, I really think, we as blind people have enough 'gadgets' to drag around, and fool with. If I can save myself the hazzle of having to keep track of yet another plastic thing on my desk - be it wired, or wireless - I greatly prefer doing so. ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 4:00 PM Subject: Mouse Vs Keyboard I find this topic on mouse envy rather interesting. I suspect it is a generational issue. My children are taught keyboarding, however they don't seem to have reached the same level of proficiency as people who learned how to type in the olden days on those manual Underwood and Olivetti manual typewriters. I see a similar phenomenon at work. People who used to use those word processors, such as the ones put out by Wang, do not rely on the mouse unless they have to do so. They claim that it is faster to keep their hands on the keyboard than it is to constantly go back and forth from keyboard to mouse. Personally I am glad that GW Micro doesn't focus too much on allowing me to use their product with a physical mouse. I don't need anything that will force me to work more slowly. The keyboard mouse navigation keys do more than I require. People wonder why WordPerfect has hung in there for so long. It is not only because Corel products cost less than Microsoft, it is because there are still enough of us old curmudgeons around who recognize the value of good keyboarding (once known as typing) skills. WordPerfect has a significant amount of keyboard options. I must admit, Microsoft is catching up. Someone must have told them about the benefits of the keyboard. And to give younger generations credit, I notice that as they become more and more familiar with keyboard commands they quickly adopt them in loo of the mouse. Finally it is not only those of us who are blind or vision impaired that are challenged by a physical mouse: there are other disabilities, such as types of dyslexia, that make using a mouse difficult, if not impossible. Vic If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
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