Non-Apple Buttonless Mouse

MX pointed us to a story about a new buttonless mouse. It's visually quite unique, but they say it's not the ideal gaming device for you real-time-gaming folks. But hey, points for style. I've been using this optical cordless logitech (Blatant ThinkGeek linkage) on my desktop for awhile, although I'm not sure how well it'd work for gaming. When I play, I still use a MS Optical mouse. Whatever anyone thinks about their business practices and operating systems, they sure seem to always sell good mice.

Comments

MS mice

[Tet]

I still use a MS Optical mouse. Whatever anyone thinks about their business practices and operating systems, they sure seem to always sell good mice.

Personally, I've never understood why people are so obsessed with MS mice. There's nothing wrong with them, although I think the ergonomics are sometimes designed for show rather than use. But when Logitech discontinued the Pilot mouse, I went out and bought a whole bunch. I've yet to find anything better. MS mice, and newer Logitech mice all lack a full size middle button, and those with wheels impede the use of the middle button. I've never understood why wheel mice didn't have a traditional three button layout with the wheel on the side, being thumb operated...

Re:MS mice

[Anonymous Coward]

While the scroll wheel at first seemed like a great idea, I found out that it is a real ergonomics disaster. I started getting nasty carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms after using the wheel too much, and went back to using the Apple Pro Mouse that came with my Mac. No more unnatural and highly repetitive finger motions...

Having looked at the mouse...

[Tsar]

It appears to me that the mouse still has left-right buttons, but they're in the underside of the mouse body, so you have to tilt the entire body to activate a button by pressing the appropriate corner harder against the desk. Cool, but like the man said, you lose some fine control and quick response time.

Mice and gaming.

[jidar]

Yeah you definately wouldn't want to be using a mouse like that for gaming. In fact, even using an optical mouse isn't a good thing if you are competing at the world level.

What you will find if you look into the Pro gamer community (this might sound like I'm kidding, but it really exists: http://www.shackes.com) is that most of them do not like optical mice. They simply don't have high enough sampling rate in most cases. If you turn fast enough with an optical then tend to freak out for a second resulting in your player staring at the floor or sky and spinning. Also, the movements and physics of using an optical are somewhat different. For instance the 'flick' motion that a lot of players have mastered doesn't translate well to an optical.

Opticals are nice because of their longevity, and low maintenance, but if you're seriuos then ball is still king.

my thoughts exactly.

[gimpboy]

Whatever anyone thinks about their business practices and operating systems, they sure seem to always sell good mice.

i say the same about nike. who cares if small asian children work 16 hours a day for almost nothing-they sure make good shoes. really though it's called having principles. if you think a company is bad, for whatever reason, you shouldnt do business with that company-not just the part of the company you disagree with.

mod me down if you want, but i personally dont appreciate the hypocrisy.

Re:my thoughts exactly.

[Anonymous Coward]

the thing is, you are probably just as morally bankrupt as ol' bill, but you're just jealous that you don't have his billions. until you are jesus christ, get out of pulpit.

Re:my thoughts exactly.

[JWhitlock]

i say the same about nike. who cares if small asian children work 16 hours a day for almost nothing-they sure make good shoes. really though it's called having principles. if you think a company is bad, for whatever reason, you shouldnt do business with that company-not just the part of the company you disagree with.

WHOA! How about a little perspective, huh? Is Microsoft doing anything on the level of exploiting third-world children? Sure, they've been convicted of operating an illegal monopoly, but the only folks that got hurt were those trying to sell software of their own. Is this the principle you are trying to follow - fair competition in a regulated market? Does that mean your principles lead you to buy third-party software? Or is your principle that software should be free, and thus you don't care about those other businesses that were shut out? I must admit, I'm not sure what you are talking about, and I can't wrap my brain around any principle that lumps Microsoft's "business practices and operating systems" with Nike's treatment of third-world workers. Or, are you commenting that Nike's new initiatives to help third-world workers are comparable to Microsoft's new initiatives to fix security problems?

Personally, I'm quite happy about Microsoft's business practices - they resulted in cheap PCs (every PC didn't have to meet IBM's specs, just Microsoft's) and angry programmers, which directly resulted in the Linux operating system. Linux may be putting a free operating system in every computer, but Microsoft put those computers on people's desks - they are like the ugly booster rockets that put the shuttle in orbit.

BTW, horrible link to NIKEWORKERS.ORG. Like your comments, it assumes everything (that you agree that Nike exploits third-world workers) and explains nothing (no examples of Nike's exploitation). In fact, the only stories in the ABOUT section were old articles about paid endorsers that didn't know about the problems, and the only links in the NEWS section were about Reebok! This would have been a better link.

Focus, people! :-)

[seldolivaw]

Taco posts a story about a new mouse, and includes a one-line comment mentioning MS Mice. Result: a thread of replies almost entirely about Microsoft mice, Microsoft hardware, and MS's business practices. And 3 about the actual mouse :-)