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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."
A colleague called me to his office the other day. His PowerMac was "locking up" not responsive to clicks. And when he'd reboot the optical drive would eject. Turns out his Logitech USB mouse was stuck in the left click position. (Macs eject their optical disk on restart if the mouse button is clicked.)
I've pretty much used Logitech mice exclusively since I've stared using a computer. They've consistently provided high-quality, low-priced products. My mouse I use at home is a simple $12 Logitech optical mouse, and it works perfectly. Unfortunately, I'm using a MS mouse at work. I think I will buy another Logitech mouse to replace this one.
Coca-Cola? Pepsi? They've probably sold a billion+ of a variety of their individual product lines (i.e. over 1 billion bottles of Mountain Dew AND over 1 billion bottles of Pepsi Cola), as opposed to Logitech who sold a billion from a category of products that encompasses multiple products.
Same for Budweiser - I wouldn't be surprised if they've hit 10 billion units or more.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Logitech have been shipping mice since 1981, giving them almost a two decade head start on Microsoft. Their early mice used balls and so needed replacing after a few years. Over the last 26 years, they have made mice that have been rebranded and shipped by numerous OEMs, including Apple, HP and Dell. For most of the '80s and '90s, any serious computer user had a logitech mouse (and less serious ones often had a cheap Logitech mouse with their computer maker's brand on it). Calling them a minority player is like calling Microsoft a minority player in the desktop OS market.
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Don't know about Intel, but ARM shipped 1 billion processors last quarter, according to their Q3 results statement.
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 ... it's too easy.
Sean Ellis
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I too am a big fan of Logitech mice. My main computer rig actually sports a Razer Diamondback these days, but my laptop mouse is Logitech, as are the mice on my workstation and server rack's KVM at work. Over the years I've had countless ones. Like you, I mostly have upgraded to keep pace with technology: moving to one with a scroll wheel, moving to an optical, moving to USB, getting a mouse with more buttons, etc.
Like all heavy use devices I've had a few failures (I've had 2 Logitech mice wear out on me), but overall compared with other mice I've still noticed them to be of a pretty high quality. When I used to work as a tech at a college many years ago, I can't count how many Microsoft Intellimouses had a scroll wheel that was jammed where it couldn't be moved anymore.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Bah. They've fiddled with the link:
http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html
the no
I'm pretty sure I read that ARM ship a billion or so of their chips every year. Of course that may not count as they licence their designs to other companies who actually make the things.
Talking of Coca Cola, if everyone in the world bought a bottle of Coke on average once every 5 years, they would ship a billion bottles a year. I'm pretty sure the figures are much higher than that.
Because Steve Jobs only recently relented and allowed a second button on them. Before the mighty mouse, Apple mice were pretty useless creatures.
Much as I'm loath to admit it, the best mouse I've ever owned was manufactured by Microsoft.
Logitech however does place a close second. Followed even more closely by virtually every other mouse I've ever owned by any company, I mean, it's a mouse, there's not all that much you can do to set it apart from the rest of the pack. If it moves the pointer around smoothly, has at least 3 buttons and a scroll wheel, and doesn't stick it's as good as at least 90% of the mice (is that even the right term?) out there.
Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
see comment below about ARM shipping 1 billion processors last quarter
Yeah... right... it won't be mainstream in 3-5 years... sorry, but I call BS.
Touchscreens and facial recognition software will not replace the mouse in an office environment. It won't replace it for gaming. Hell, it won't replace it period.
Take gaming as a simple example. When I'm playing WoW, I'm often looking elsewhere, eating a snack, drinking a beer, or talking to my wife who is sitting on the other side of the room... the last thing I'm going to want to do is stare at the screen and make funny faces at it to move the mouse. Sorry, ain't gonna happen.
Don't get me wrong here; touch screens are a huge boon and will have a place in specialized industries; auto interfaces, shared spaces, Cell Phones, etc.
But making the claim that it will no longer be mainstream and large companies, lets say HR Block, will drop the mouse and replace everything with a touch screen and facial recognition software is the biggest load of crap I've heard in quote a long time.
I hope there will be a headline where computer equipment manufacturers are recycling this shit.
Toothpicks...
You are incorrect. The click detection is indeed done by detecting the capacitance of your fingers. I accept that there may be more than one physical microswitch inside the device, but that has nothing to do with left/right-click determination. The only thing that matters is whether your finger is resting on the left half of the device or not.
ZFS: because love is never having to say fsck
Clicky:
http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html
Unless you really, really like using tags (or it isn't available...), "Plain Old Text" works pretty well.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Microsoft shipped their first mouse in 1983, so it's a head start of two years, not two decades. My first PC (back in the 80s) had a Microsoft mouse.
their first mouse was a rebranded logitech.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Bic sold it's 100 billionth pen back in 2005.
source: http://www.psfk.com/2005/09/bic_celebrate_d.html
"A billion hours ago, human life appeared on earth. A billion minutes ago, Christianity emerged. A billion seconds ago, the Beatles changed music. A billion Coca-Colas ago was yesterday morning,"
-- Robert Goizueta, CEO (1980-1997) Coca-Cola Company
Come play free flash games on Kongregate!
While I do agree that mass-disposal is wasteful, the mouse has changed significantly in the last 20 years:
1. computer interface: RS-232, PS/2, USB
2. number of buttons
3. scroll wheel
4. mechanism: ball mouse with moving parts that wear out, optical mouse with special grid mousepad, modern optical mouse
5. wireless mice: IR, RF, Bluetooth
So its not like there hasn't been reasons to upgrade.
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
Has any company that makes electronic/mechanical (complex) devices shipped 1B of anything?
Seagate claims to have shipped 1 billion hard drives.
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=null&vgnextoid=43afb55a61379110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD
It's a joke.
As far as I'd guess, someone tagged the story with "milliard" to indicate that this is only a billion on the short scale (i.e., a milliard on the long scale; some people prefer that term for its unambiguity). I'd further guess that some jokster then tagged the story with "milliardfillmore" as a cheap pun on the word "milliard", jokingly insinuating that the "milliard" tag was supposed to refer to Fillmore as well and that it had just been misspelt. In other words, it's likely a lame joke.e
I'm just guessing, but this is the best I can come up with.
Gartner analyst Steve Prentice who said "the mouse will no longer be mainstream in three to five years."
The Gartner Group has been run by idiots who'll say anything to get some press for about ten years now. They are quoted incessantly by internal corporate politicians who need some "evidence" to promote their pet projects or discredit an internal rival's. E.g: "See? Even Gartner agrees that we need to divert resources from the mouse divison to my division's Toeball 2000 project or the company will implode in three years!"