Where Is My Heavy-Duty Mouse?

jmaslak expresses himself thusly: "I'm in the market for yet another new mouse. My average mouse-span is three months. Once in a while, I can stretch it to four, but sometimes the darn things die after only one month. I've tried cheap mice and expensive mice. Microsoft makes a decent mouse, as it usually lasts four. But I hate spending $50 every 4 months!" (Read more for the details of jmaslak's quest.)

"The failure modes vary about 50/50: rollers just get too worn out to roll right (not dirty, though -- I clean the mouse often) or the cable between the mouse and the computer goes bad. I'd love a wireless optical mouse, but I can't seem to find anyone that makes one. I'd gladly spend $100 on a mouse if it would last more than 6 months.

I don't want a trackball or any other non-traditional mouse. Ergonomics don't matter. The wheel is helpful, but I'd do without the wheel as long as the mouse had three buttons (I run Unix).

Does anyone make a mouse that will stand up to the torture? Am I going to have to start manufacturing mice for people like myself?"

The best "mouse" I've found is a Logitech optical trackball using 3-buttom emulation, but not everyone likes those. So where is the mythical perfect mouse hiding? The sought-after wireless optical mouse really would be nice.