The Combimouse - The Keyboard of the Future?

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Ever so often designers will come up with what they believe is the next logical progression as far as the onward development of keyboards are concerned and, with the greatest of respect to them, invariably their ideas may sound good in theory but in practice they leave a lot to be desired.

Examples that I can think of off the top of my head are rubber keyboards that roll up and a keyboard that is merely projected by a light source on any surface – both of which have totally failed to set the world alight.

The next contender to enter the ring is the Combimouse, which has already won an award in the Australian IT Secrets competition – but could you see yourself using it?

In essence what the designers of the Combimouse have done is to split a standard keyboard in two with one side of the keyboard also operating as a mouse. The standard keys on the right part of the keyboard therefore double up as mouse click buttons once it has been prompted to enter its mouse mode – as shown by the diagram below.

Sounds rather longwinded, doesn’t it? Perhaps this is why the website goes to great pains to point out that “Moving between keyboard and mouse modes is effortless and intuitive. The transition time between the two modes is insignificant”.

The advantages of the Combimouse (according to the official website) are:

• The combimouse provides instant and effortless transition between keyboard and mouse operation.
• A regular keyboard has its mouse situated far to the right of the keyboard. combimouse eliminates shoulder abduction – a widely documented and recognised problem – which is the unnatural opening up of the shoulder in order to reach a standard mouse.
• Minimises prime desk space usage.
• Left and right units are small enough to be easily pushed aside while not in use.
• The units can be placed to the right and left of center, leaving a clearing for books or other items.
• The right unit features an integrated numeric keypad, making the combimouse perfect for data entry and navigating spreadsheets.
• Features a multi button mouse which is convenient for gaming, CAD and most other programs. It is the best system for First Shooter Gamers.
• The combimouse right unit can be used with a notebook to provide keyboard, mouse and numeric keypad functionality.

At present the company is still looking for investors to help it “commercialise” the Combimouse. However, whilst I can see where the designers are coming from, I am afraid that, as modern as this device looks, I for one cannot envisage replacing my standard keyboard for one of these in the near (or, indeed, the distant) future

What are your thoughts? Can you envisage yourself purchasing this device should it become commercially available – or do you, like me, view the Combimouse with some scepticism?

If you are interested in learning more about the Combimouse you can visit the official website via this link where there is also a very (and I mean very) brief video of the Combimouse in action.