Is there STILL a mouse in your house? Part Deux

It's been some time since my first doodling on this insatiably controversial and fascinating topic.  It's been interesting to watch, as technology form factors have evolved far more rapidly than human ones.  The former, however, has not lost its dependency on the latter.  With this in mind, I can now with clear conscience concede the near extinction, if not utter demise, of the wired mouse.

They can still be found in controlled environments, such as libraries and school labs, where being tethered perhaps keeps them from scurrying away and being eaten by larger peripherals, but in the wild they have all but vanished.

I do, however, appear to be staying on track about trackpads.  Just the other day, one of my geekiest friends was demonstrating his latest shiny things on his laptop.  After a few moments of fluid track-tapping with the finesse of Fred Astaire, he muttered to himself, dug into his laptop bag, and fished out...a wireless mouse. He has no practical problems using a trackpad. He just doesn't prefer it. I see this a lot.

I'm also seeing colleagues who rely on laptops for daily work stashing spare wireless mice like they would generic reading glasses: not just in their laptop bags, but in desk drawers, filing cabinets, purses, and once even a jacket pocket.

I'm not yet myself to the point where I can lay my hands on a spare mouse as quickly as I can a pair of $14 Foster Grants, but I'm getting there. They just fit, they just work, and when the chips are down, they are still so much easier to throw.