Slashdot Mirror
Logitech Makes 1 Billionth Mouse
Smivs writes "Logitech has hailed as a major landmark the production of their one billionth computer mouse.
The news comes at a time when analysts claim the days of the mouse are numbered.
'It's rare in human history that a billionth of anything has been shipped by one company,' said Logitech's general manager Rory Dooley.
'Look at any other industry and it has never happened. This is a significant milestone.'
The computer mouse will achieve a milestone of its own next week when it turns 40.
It was 9 December 1968 when Douglas C. Engelbart and his group of researchers at Stanford University put the first mouse through its paces."
ball bearing balls? bottlecaps? shoes? Bolts? Lesbians!
Companies? I can name a few ex-girlfriends...
Remember when the "bus mouse" was the cool upgrade over a crappy serial-port mouse, and you had that extra 8-bit ISA card with the funny port on it? IRQs ? I/O ports ? That was back before teenage girls took over the Internet.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
That's weird. Why on earth would a Mac user not simply use the supplied Apple brand mouse? Oh, right.
Speaking to your criticism directly, I have about half a dozen Logitech mice, spanning a decade, that all work flawlessly. The only reason I have bought more since the first one 11 years ago has been to keep pace with technology (optical, wireless, 2d scroll wheel, laser, etc.)
Then again, it's not like I use mine for grueling tasks like ejecting CDs.
A /. reader admitted to using an MS product! He must have no fear!
I wonder if when they ship this one billionth mouse to a customer, they will include in the box a flashing ad telling him that he is the one billionth customer and should click here to claim his prize.
Yes, a billionth of most things are microscopic in size. So shipping it is quite difficult. Great job logitec.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I'm curious to know how many mice Microsoft has shipped; theirs seem to be more plentiful than Logitech's in the wild.
That's because they pull their own cords and escape to the woods. They're a lot less house-trained than their Logitech counterparts.
Well, I have only indirect evidence of this, but roughly 1 billion seconds ago my parents were getting busy.
Yeah, you need a lot of mice to make a big mac.
Whoever makes cockroaches passed the billion mark a long time ago. And using a model with very few variations, too.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Microsoft is an excellent mouse-making company. It's a shame people keep complaining about their failed OS sideline.
As others have mentioned, if you turn over most of the OEM branded mice the come with a computer, you'll see a Logitech logo on it.
Thanks, I just turned over my lenovo mouse to check, and blinded myself with the laser
No, he meant no other industry has shipped a billion mice.
McDonald's has probably shipped a billion mice, too.
Funny. So did my uncle.
cornflakes
Check out my sysadmin blog!
I'd imagine that the manufacturing in all cases is done by Wun Hung Lo Light Industry and Pre-Used Organs Conglomerate in China. Branding is largely superficial.
As an aside though, the Microsoft Explorer Trackball was a Microsoft custom job that Logitech have never produced a direct competitor for. I mention this because, being Microsoft, they killed it off despite its popularity in its niche. Used examples are now selling for $250 and rising on eBay, and there's even a market for cleaning kits and maintenance marketed specifically at this device; I doubt we'll ever see any particular Logitech branded pointing device being missed as much.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Same thing we do very night, Pinky: try to take over the world! You see, I have commissioned a company by the name of Logitech to deliver ONE BILLION mice, an army large enough to overwhelm any defence system known to man.
[ding dong]
Ah, that will be my delivery. Soon, Pinky, the world will be ours for the taking.
Crikey, Brain, these mice are kind of odd. Why are their tails so long, and what is this hard shell [toc] all around them?
Other things that must ship in the billions: screws, nails, paper clips, thumbtacks, staples, sweets (candy), baked beans, soda, LEDs (actually almost any discrete electronic component), copier paper, post-it notes, coins, pens, pencils, bin liners ...
... posts nitpicking that quote...
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Not just the processing, but the design. It's not like someone mixes up a big bowl of ground beef, a few eggs, spices and whatever, then roughly forms round-ish patties before shipping them out.*
Everything produced for McDonald's is the result of a very stricly controlled manufacturing process to ensure that every meat-like patty, every tallow-spiked fry, every creepily long-lasting chocolate shake is the same to within very strict tolerances, whether you eat it in Miami or Whitehorse.
Make no mistake; that Quarter Pounder with Orange Dairy-Like Substance(TM) is as much the product of a technical manufacturing process as your Cordless Trackball with Media Whiz-Bang!(TM).
.
*That only happens at good burger joints.
Find environmentally and socially responsible products on http://buy-right.net
Same nutritional value, mind you.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
find me a single company that has shipped 1 billion units of a non-consumable product. Maybe Hanes with their underwear?
Believe me, I eat a lot of spicy foods. My Hanes last about as long as a consumable.....
In fairness, they've improved it a lot for the mighty mouse 2. All you need to do for a right click, is to point your mouse at the screen, and slap your forehead with your left hand until the context menu appears.
Depends what you consider a lot. Obviously you need one to direct the action, and maybe two or three others to gather all the components and.. oh wait. Oh God, that's not what you meant at all, is it? You sick, sick man.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
I wouldn't be surprised if Budweiser ships (far in excess of?) 1 billion units a year
And that's just to Chico State!!
> Bic sold it's 100 billionth pen back in 2005.
Congratulations! You're the billionth Slashdot post to misspell its.
Try our new 68-button MegaMedia(TM) Mouse with built-in subwoofer!!!
I just finally threw caution to the wind last year and duct-taped an old mouse on the bottom of my keyboard. 108-button mouse, biatches! Doesn't have a subwoofer, but I still have duct tape left over.
It's fun to become agitated AND I learned an OSX function I never new about ;-)
That's the Mac experince in a nutshell.
The mouse is probably better for you...
That probably means something more like 976562500 hard drives.
Lay's makes chips, and I'm sure they've shipped over a billion of 'em...
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
You assume that there isn't any mouse in the burger.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.