Will Computer keyboards ever be history?

I have had to teach people on a number of occasions how to type on the 'rather awkward' computer keyboard. Each time, I take some time to explain that this 'rather awkward' arrangement actually makes typing much easier and faster than a 'properly arranged' keyboard.

However, as we move towards 5th generation computers and are already familiar with touch pads, I doubt if the role and usage of keyboards as we know them today will remain the same.

Now a prediction; gradually the touch pad will get more incorporated into personal computers to the extent that users will actually just write using the light pen (or any common device such as a pencil) and then have this converted to any font of choice on the screen onto say a word processing document.

As time goes on, people will get more used to that and making the keyboard somewhat an obsolete 'accessory' used only by techies and conservationists. Gradually, later generations will only see keyboards in a museum or on google images or wikipedia or ..... anywhere else except on their laptops or desktops.

But.....
What will happen to the non alphanumeric keys such as SHIFT, ALT, ESC etc, the Function keys (F1 - F12) and all such?

There will be a small key pad somewhere on the computer or attached optionally to the computer for use as and when needed.


But will this last very long? I doubt how long it will given the trend that voice recognition is also on the rise and is certainly going to be of more convenience. But the challenges of this are yet to be sorted out especially with accent. For example if a computer will respond properly and print out "Water" when it is mentioned by an American, the same computer might just print out "What a" when the same word is mentioned by a Ghanaian.

Its a long interesting road to go. And I look forward to it.

What you think?