Flutterby™! : Something Microsoft Does Well 2006-05-16 18:52:34.601127+00

Something Microsoft Does Well

2006-05-16 18:52:34.601127+00 by ebradway 2 comments

I've been geeking over computers since the early days - when Compute! magazine ran cover articles like "Is 64K really just a status symbol?" Now I'm genuinely surprised when something makes me really excited - especially when it's a commonplace item like a mouse. I recently got a Microsoft Wireless Notebook Mouse 6000 and plugged it into my laptop. Because it has some new buttons, I went ahead and installed the driver. I usually prefer using the default OS driver and just ignore the bell-and-whistle buttons.

After 30 minutes of using the mouse (including the side-scroll wheel), I turned around to do something on my desktop PC. Suddenly the mouse that I have used every day for the past four years felt awkward and foreign! You really have to try it to see what I mean and I'm sure if you've been buying mice regularly, you won't notice the difference. But in this small arena, kudos to Microsoft.

#Comment Re: made: 2006-05-16 19:05:02.362568+00 by: Dan Lyke [edit history]

Yeah, a coworker has the Apple mouse with side-scrolling, and I've deliberately avoided it because I recently used a three button mouse rather than a roller mouse, and it drove me nuts. Rather be a late adopter than train muscle memory for things that'll just drive me nuts...

I do need to pay attention to the ergonmics of this puppy. I haven't noticed how I hold my hand. Prior mice were large enough for my had to rest on it... This one seems small enough and sensitive enough that I rest my hand on the desk and very slightly move my wrist and fingers.