I don’t delve into peripherals too much in this blog, but this piece on CIO.com caught my eye.

The premise is that advanced forms of user interfaces on everything from mobile devices to laptops will send the venerable desktop mouse into the dustbin of history sooner rather than later.

The article claims evidence of this trend is mounting steadily, with Microsoft showing off its Surface table at its technology center in Manhatten recently. The device, which is already available for the enterprise, has you dragging and dropping objects around a 30-inch screen with your fingers, a paintbrush or any other common object.

HP also makes the TouchSmart PC with a touch-screen monitor, while Apple is coming out with a line of laptops with track pads that can interpret multiple hand gestures.

Naturally, mouse-makers like Logitech say these new technologies will not drive the mouse into obsolescence, but will merely expand the ways in which humans manipulate data.

Me? Now that I’m over 40 and rapidly turning into the Grumpy Old Man, I think I’ll stick with my mouse for the foreseeable future. I tried texting once on my daughter’s cell phone and, quite frankly, that kind of interactivity is best left to younger minds and smaller fingers.