Multiple Mouse Pointers

[plexer]

http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/default.aspx

 

Make your powerpoints interactive with multi mouse support from Microsoft.

 

There is also an SDK for your own apps.

 

Windows MultiPoint Mouse Software Development Kit

 

Ben

[adameye]

this looks interesting, will have to have a play with it! just dont like the idea of 30 odd wireless mice all connected at once! aha

[plexer]

True, would be cool to be able to redirect the mice inputs from classroom pc's to the teacher one then you could do multiple choice type quizzes etc.. and display them on the big screen.

 

Ben

[Hightower]

How do you plug 30 wireless mice into a PC with 4 USB ports

[plexer]

Multiple usb hubs.

 

Ben

[adameye]

How do you plug 30 wireless mice into a PC with 4 USB ports

 

a load of powered usb hubs, and a pretty good USB bus, probbably USB 3.0 would be up to the job.

 

seems like something no one is willing to do unless they have frizzy white hair and a car that travels back in time.

[Hightower]

Multiple usb hubs.

 

Multiple pain to support

[SimpleSi]

We need to sue Microsoft!

 

We came up with this idea at BETT after we saw the SMART table.

 

Theiving.....

 

Simon

[plexer]

True but I think this will be of more use in primaries which is where the software publishers seem to be, or a poor mans interactive table with say 4 mice on it.

 

Ben

[Ric_]

I've already given this to a couple of staff here after reading about it at Microsoft UK Schools : A new way to add interactivity and quizzes to PowerPoint presentations

 

Another interesting thing for Office... Microsoft UK Schools : Ribbon Hero ? combining games and learning

 

Ray Fleming's blog is good (especially when he mentions us)

[SimpleSi]

or a poor mans interactive table with say 4 mice on it.

That was what we came up with

 

Just stick an old dim projector that still works under a glass coffee table and you've saved yourself about £4k over the SMART one

 

All we needed was the software to cope with it

 

regards

 

Simon

[dhicks]

How do you plug 30 wireless mice into a PC with 4 USB ports

 

You could plug them in to multiple (powered) USB hubs okay, but then they would intefere with each other and/or your 802.11 network (I think we've discusssed this recently - is about half a dozen Bluetooth devices in close proximity a practical limit? I assume other wireless devices, using the same chunk of bandwidth, would have a similar limit?). The software would also seem to be limited to 25 pointers. Better for groupwork, maybe?

 

--

David Hicks

[dhicks]

Just stick an old dim projector that still works under a glass coffee table

 

Even cheaper - just use an LCD monitor, there's no need to worry about touch input on the screen itself. Could even try those all-in-one laptop-style keyboards with built-in touchpads - half a dozen of those around an LCD display built in to a table, well under £1,000 for the whole thing.

 

All we needed was the software to cope with it

 

The original post only links to stuff that works for Powerpoint - if you want anything else you have to write it yourself using Microsoft's API. I don't know what happens to stuff like embedded Flash content inside Powerpoint files - I'm guessing it just gets confused, I think multi-pointer/touch support for Flash is still in the works.

 

The current development version of Debian and the next release of Ubuntu supports multiple mouse pointers, too.

 

--

David Hicks

[rayfleming]

We need to sue Microsoft!

 

We came up with this idea at BETT after we saw the SMART table.

 

Theiving.....

 

Simon

 

Our development cycle must be really fast - we read your brainwaves at BETT, developed it and then went back in time to launch it at BETT and demo it on the stand by 10am on the first day Suddenly even more impressed with our developers - not only mind-reading, but time travel

For the benefit of the tape, definitely intended as humour

[plexer]

That was what we came up with

 

Just stick an old dim projector that still works under a glass coffee table and you've saved yourself about £4k over the SMART one

 

All we needed was the software to cope with it

 

regards

 

Simon

 

I know that's why I posted it.

 

Ben

[dhicks]

There is also an SDK for your own apps.

 

Does anyone know how this affects licensing? Could we use that API to make a web browser capable of opening multiple windows at once, each separately usable by a different mouse pointer, all for the price of one copy of Windows?

 

--

David Hicks