Microsoft patents gel-based trackpoint with fingerprint sensor

[HEXUS]

It can also facilitate Force Touch style pressure sensitive UI interactions.

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[anselhelm]

Does anyone really use those mouse nubbins?

[naturbo2000]

Does anyone really use those mouse nubbins?

Yep. I'm ThinkPad keyboard and nubbin all the way both at home and work.

Played all the way through Mass Effect (1) with it too :-)

[anselhelm]

Does anyone really use those mouse nubbins?

Yep. I'm ThinkPad keyboard and nubbin all the way both at home and work.

Played all the way through Mass Effect (1) with it too :-)

Amazing. You're the first person I've ever known to actually use a nubbin!

[Wozza63]

Does anyone really use those mouse nubbins?

Yep. I'm ThinkPad keyboard and nubbin all the way both at home and work.

Played all the way through Mass Effect (1) with it too :-)

Amazing. You're the first person I've ever known to actually use a nubbin!

I didn't even know what they were until a week ago. But they seem pretty useful, sadly my laptop doesn't have one.

[Brad54]

in my opinion, it's usseless :/

[Xlucine]

A nubbin you can click is neat. I used to get on well with a laptop with one, and it should save a decent amount of space over a trackpad

[lumireleon]

Microsoft should patent better things like the way to make windows software more private.

[3s-gtech]

We have lots of Thinkpads here, I always default to the nubbin if it hasn't been pulled off and lost. Much nicer to use than a trackpad. Got used to it on early Compaq laptops that didn't have a trackpad at all.

[excalibur1814]

Microsoft should patent better things like the way to make windows software more private.

It can already be really, really private but you're probably not willing to spend the time making it so. I'd rather it stay as it is than be locked down with no way to chance anything. We have the hosts file, access to the firewall, the ability to NOT run as admin yet be prompted for credentials as a standard user and, as mentioned above, the ability to use the hosts file/firewall to block anything and everything.

[TooNice]

Toshiba used to have them in the old days if I remember right. Personally, I really liked them (compared to touchpads at the time - though not as much as a proper mouse as they left my index a bit sore if I game with them for extended period of time), and kind felt that touchpads were forced on me rather than adopted by choice. That said, it's been a long time since the last time I've used one, so I am not sure how much I'd like them today.

[virtuo]

I just mess about with mine in boring meetings, only ever used properly as a fall-back as my Dell touchpad is tempremental at best

[Corky34]

It can already be really, really private but you're probably not willing to spend the time making it so. I'd rather it stay as it is than be locked down with no way to chance anything. We have the hosts file, access to the firewall, the ability to NOT run as admin yet be prompted for credentials as a standard user and, as mentioned above, the ability to use the hosts file/firewall to block anything and everything.

I would say propitiatory software can never be truly private, especially so when it comes with features that can breach that privacy as you never know if the off button has the desired effect unless you constantly monitor it externally, basically you can't look at the code and know what that off button really does.

You also can't really depend on the hosts file as Microsoft have been bypassing that since Windows XP for certain Microsoft domains, the same problem with using propitiatory software arises with Windows Firewall, you can never be sure it's doing what it says on the tin.