[mtdewcmu]

I don't understand what task the users were doing when the mouse was discovered to be faster. The keyboard and mouse are not generally interchangeable; the task will generally favor one or the other. I'm assuming that the users were doing something like manipulating a GUI that favored the mouse and was awkward with the keyboard. The purpose of the study was probably to convince people to buy Apple's new mouse-centric computers.

Here is what's annoying: having to frequently move back and forth between the keyboard and mouse. Having to glance down to find the mouse to do one thing and then back to keyboard starts to break one's train of thought.

[mjw1007]

As far as I remember, in the one study that got reported users were asked to select a number of words scattered through a document and make them bold.

[mtdewcmu]

Oh, I get it. There was probably no efficient way to move the cursor around with the keyboard. That might explain why users said the keyboard was faster. It was faster for them to push the right buttons. They might have found the mouse cumbersome. They probably thought of the mouse wasting their time.

Do people still consider the results of this study valid? A mouse in 1989 was nothing like a mouse now.

[to3m]

This is the sort of thing the mouse is actually rather good for. Though you're probably better using Ctrl+B to embolden than you are the toolbar or menu.

[mtdewcmu]

It sounds like roughly the best case for the mouse and roughly the worst case for the keyboard.