With touch-screen interfaces popping up left, right and centre, Microsoft has said the end of the mouse is nigh with its latest operating system, which it is rumoured will be very similar to build Apples iPhone touch screen.

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According to the company, Windows 7 will allow users to touch, rather than point and click the screen in a move, which indicates that the software company believes that the days of the keyboard-mouse combination are coming to a close.

However what is unclear is how users will embrace the touch-screen PC and how long it will take for them to abandon typing and to start manipulating images on a screen, however the company is more concerned about the popularity of the touch-screen interface on a string of handheld devices, ranging from sat-navs to iPhones and a touch-screen BlackBerry is expected in early 2009.

So the mouse, which was invented by Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute invented the mouse in 1963 will become the sacrificial lamb in Microsoft’s battle with its competitors and its stubborn insistence to stay on top of the IT heap.
 
The company is sorely in need of a lift after the success of the Apple iPod and other handheld technologies, the unsuccessful Yahoo bid, a near-daily losing battle with Google over control of the internet, and the lacklustre release of Vista.