Mouse vs Keyboard (was: Re: editor wars (was Mac vs Unix...))

[John R. Levine]

In article <179 at root44.uucp> hamish at root44.UUCP (Hamish Reid) writes:
>I'm puzzled - perhaps I've missed the point - but in all this theological
>can/cant mine-is-better-than-yours etc war over input devices, has
>anyone ever used *foot pedals* combined with keyboards for input ...

The main problem with rats (big mice that live on the floor) is that you have
nowhere near the muscle control over your feet that you do over your hands,
and moreover you need a very well designed work environment to be able to take
the weight off both of your feet without falling out of your chair.

I used to play the organ, and getting the control of my feet necessary to play
the organ pedals was unbelievably hard.  It took years and I was never very
good at it.  The analogy with a car is not a good one because in the car you
only have one degree of freedom in each pedal, and the driver's seat is
carefully designed to let you sit with no weight on your feet.
-- 
John R. Levine, Javelin Software Corp., Cambridge MA +1 617 494 1400
{ ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine at YALE.EDU
The opinions expressed herein are solely those of a 12-year-old hacker
who has broken into my account and not those of any person or organization.