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AnchorDesk

David Coursey
How MS keeps trying to build a better mouse

David Coursey
Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
Friday, September 19, 2003
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What do you give a mouse that has everything? Or a keyboard, for that matter? That's the question designers at the leading input device companies, Microsoft and Logitech, have to answer. And about this time each year we get to see the answers.

Mice that click with readers
Need to upgrade your pointer? Here are three of the most popular optical mice on the market today.

Logitech Mx700 Cordless Optical MousePC

Gyration Ultra Cordless Optical Suite

Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer

THE BIG NEWS--if you can call it that--from Microsoft is that the formerly clicky scroll wheel now rolls smoothly and has a slightly nicer feel. The wheel also tilts from side to side a bit, allowing you to scroll both up and down and side to side.

Microsoft says the scroll wheel is the favorite feature among mouse users. I hardly ever use mine, which I think says more about when I started mousing than the utility of the feature. The first mouse I used was a single-button Mac model, back when only Macs had mice. When Microsoft started mousing, I eventually started using the right mouse button and now use it all the time on my Macs.

Life would be easier, I suppose, if I'd make more use of the scroll wheel. I just never think of it. So I'll force myself to use the one on the new MS mouse and see if my life becomes magically more complete.

Just like I should force myself to use more keyboard shortcuts. The only ones I use are Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste. OK, I've Ctrl+I'd a few times to get italics in my word processor and, if forced, will Alt+F to open the File menu. But that's about it.

MICROSOFT IS ALSO out with a new wireless keyboard, notable for the addition of a few keys and some faux leather padding. The Wireless MultiMedia Keyboard Elite is a 128-key (by my count) keyboard with a "cushioned palm rest with the feel of leather," according to the PR handout I received. It comes with a matching "feel of leather" mouse. I asked a friend of mine what she thought about the leather, and she said it looked cheesy. I sorta like it.

The keyboard has the same tilt wheel for scrolling as the mouse. It also sports five My Favorites keys that can be used to open specific documents. Setting the favorites buttons is as simple as holding the key down for a few seconds to assign it to whatever document is on your screen at the moment. This works like a car radio button, a smart way of doing things. But note that the My Favorites keys can only be assigned to documents or files, not to applications.

What I've done is assign the keys to various templates I use every day, enabling me to open a few document of a specific type with the press of a single key.

The letters and keys adjacent to them are dark but see-through. Because of this, they're subject to glare that, in some lighting conditions, can make it impossible to read the key markings. I also wish the see-through keys were backlit.

OVERALL, however, this is a nice keyboard. It sells in a bundle with the Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer for $104.95. But the keyboard isn't as nice as the (alas) discontinued Office keyboard, which included specific keys for common Office tasks like cutting and pasting.

It's also interesting to note that while these wireless keyboards and mice promise significantly improved battery life, they aren't using Bluetooth. While a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard combo remains in the Microsoft product lineup, all the new products use 27MHz radio systems instead.

Besides the "feel of leather," Microsoft is offering mice in a variety of colors, mostly metallic, apparently the "in" thing for 2004. There are three mouse designs, the Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer ($54.95, add $10 for "the feel of leather"), the Wireless Optical Mouse ($44.95), and the hardwired IntelliMouse Explorer ($44.95). All the MS products are scheduled to ship before the end of the month.

Of the three, only the Wireless Optical Mouse is ambidextrous. As a left-hander I used to think this was really important. But after I started suffering pain just below the elbow of the left arm I started alternating my mousing hand. Some of my desktops have left-handed mice and others have right-handed rodents. After a while, the pain went away, and I've gotten pretty good with both hands. Of course, my real favorite is a large trackball, like the Kensington so popular with Mac users, but that's fodder for another column.

FURTHER FODDER for a future column: why these multimedia keyboards don't work properly with KVM switches. These keyboard-video-mouse switches allow one set of input devices and a single monitor to be switched among more than one computer. I haven't tested the new MS keyboard but every other one I have tried lost the functionality of their specialized keys when used with a switch. I asked the Microsoft folks about this and nobody seemed to know anything, so I'm betting this is a fix for the future.

Microsoft does get kudos, however, for providing Macintosh drivers with its keyboards and mice.

Overall, Microsoft has something like two dozen mice and keyboard products and all of them work quite well. Of course, the same can be said about Logitech, its major competitor in the input device market. That company has made a major push into Bluetooth technology and also has its own new mice for 2004, which I will report on when they arrive, and which my colleague Pat Houston wrote about today.

Are Microsoft's new developments earthshaking? Of course not, but the industry has been out of the earthshaking business for a few years now.

Meanwhile, on Monday I'll be back with another new Microsoft hardware release: its first 802.11g hardware, specifically a hub/gateway/access point and a PC card.

What do you think? Do you like Microsoft mice and/or keyboards? Which mouse features do you like best? TalkBack to me below!

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