Microsoft Pops Pressure-Sensitive Keyboard Prototype Out of the Labs

It's so upsetting that they have taken this long to develop this technology. I have been waiting since the ps2's came out with pressure sensitivity buttons that this would one day be added to keyboards for PC's.. Unfortunately never happened.

Not only in games but i could see so many other applications being able to utilize this.

For example I like to use arrow keys sometimes when navigating a webpage. wouldn't it be nice to tap down arrow key lightly to skip a few lines and heavily to skip hole pages? or holding it down lightly to scroll at a slower speed and heavier to scroll more quickly?

What about cad software? sometimes the mouse can just plain be too sensitive or not enough in certain applications, moving something with a key may allow more precision, and allowing them to touch lightly for very good precision or heavily for moving something more quickly in one direction could help both graphic artists and architects alike...

Then as a gamer this would be awesome as well for games, and is reason alone to develop this technology, it's been proven useful in video games on the console.

It's sad though i bet even if they develop and make this keyboard today, we won't see good games or software take advantage for another 5-10 years ... Sooooo long past due!!!

I wonder how it would read someone taking a hammer to the keyboard as I often want to?

So...there is the possibility of when I'm rage typing the keyboard will automatically type in CAPS?

in racing games, the gaspedal key could regulate driver speed by how hard u press it.

This is marvy, but I hope that it never goes mainstream.

Most days, I use my keyboard for simple text input. Often in the morning, when I'm just waking up. Also, in the evening, when I'm nodding off. The last thing I need is a finicky keyboard. At times, I have enough troubles finding the right bleeping keys.

So, sell a bezillion for pro users, but keep the standard available for the rest of us.

great now the feds have another way to see who typed somthing. just like they can tell who hand writes somthing now they can tell by the reguler pressures you apply while typing somthing that it was indeed you typing it.

I hope they market these newfangled keyboards way better than they do their regular and gaming keyboards. Unlike Logitech products which are ubiquitous and reasonably priced in Asia, MS products are marketed poorly in the region. I had a horrible time trying to buy a Sidewinder X6-series keyboard when they had a big media-splash but then failed to get their products on actual store shelves (so why did they bother even making these things?). It was a mess and I ultimately gave up.

If the new keyboards could have custom-assignable keys with LED backlights that could be color-changeable and dimmable, aside from being pressure sensitive, that would be the cat's meow!

Velocity-sensitivity and assignable, downloadable .WAV files for keys (like for function keys and caps lock) would be nice too.

I can see it's potential for gaming! Just a shame Microsoft couldn't spend a little more time debugging current programs, like getting rid of the Narrator on my Vista, lol!