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Microsoft Releases Batch of Windows 8 Input Devices
jones_supa writes "To accompany Windows 8, Microsoft has released some interesting keyboard and mouse devices, all of which are wireless and use Bluetooth. The Wedge Touch Mouse is an artful product shaped as an angular wedge, being compact enough for travel too. Wedge Mobile Keyboard follows the style of laptop keyboards and includes a snap-on cover. Sculpt Touch Mouse is more like a classic mouse, but features a four-way touch-scroll strip. Finally, we have Sculpt Mobile Keyboard, which is a lighter version of a classic curved keyboard. All four are on the expensive side, but at first blush seem high-quality."
The telephone....man I got so much output from that thing in my heydays.
wireless needs batteries and can be issues in a big office full of them.
It looks like Microsoft is taking a page from Apple and emphasizing design now - along with the warts that go with it. I've never used the wedge mouse but instinct tells me that using one will invoke carpal tunnel induced rage like Apple's Bondi iMac puck mouse and clit-scroll Mighty Mouse.
No, no, no. This was first.
From TFA:
Isn't one of the selling points of a tablet that one doesn't need to use a mouse with it? Who is this targeting?
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
Does anyone use these tiny mouses?
I don't know A SINGLE person who actually uses these mini-mouses, and ultraportable tiny mouses, etc.
As a matter of fact, I own a Logitech Performance MX, which is quite huge actually, and don't have any issue carrying it around. Especially since the laptop is the actual bulky thing. I've also noticed most people that try it seem to prefer to actually have something large and comfortable, since it's only ~150g vs the ~2kg that a laptop can weight.
What's the point of saving space and weight in a mouse, when you can't even save 10% of what the laptop weight. Not to mention the charger. Especially since the price you pay (in comfort) by using a small mouse is really really high.
Microsoft should reinvent themselves as a hardware house. A lot of their hardware is very good; I've never regretted any of the Microsoft mice I've bought.
It's a shame their software is (generally) so rubbish.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
M$ is really trying hard, and I'll give them that. While the "Wedge Touch Mouse" is an interesting idea, that's where I want to leave it. Just like Apple's Mighty/Magic mice, it doesn't look comfortable and lacks any decent usability - just from the looks of it. My Logitech MX does great, travels just fine, and has a scroll wheel (yay!). The other mouse looks like the HP and Logitech "entry-level" types, of course it has that neat 4-way touch area that looks about as wide as my pinky finger, so, you know, touch left and right at nice small increments. Finally, the keyboard, well, it's curved. Neat.
Nothing to see here other than M$ jumping further into hardware, which kind of reminds me of the old days of them doing the same thing with their wave keyboards and all that fun stuff that never really made a difference, overall, for the company. But keep on trying to "out innovate" Apple with all your shiny new...things.
We appear to be entering the age where we are the mercy of the designer and the consumer.
Every "innovation" is now in the design space and is simply about establishing a brand and adding a layer of turd polish rather than solving problems or increasing efficiency.
Look at Metro, look at Windows Phone, look at these input devices, look at everything Apple has done for the last 10 years, look at everything.
It still takes us 3 months to knock out a simple bit of software, stuff still needs endless updates, problems haven't got any simpler to solve, nothing connects or works with other things properly without arguing with endless layers of configuration. Computing has become the activity, not the saviour of our time which is supposed to deliver us from mind numbing repetitiveness. We've gone nowhere.
Real technical innovation is dead. RIP.
You could at least try to sound like a person.
Keyboards and mice are one thing Microsoft has always done right, what happened? Even in their darkest days, I could get even the most zealous of Linux diehard users to admit that they made some of the best mice and keyboards around. This is especially important when you want ergonomic products to avoid injuring your wrists! Apple made the puck and microsoft makes the wedge. Google, please don't make the square, if you do I will mock you forever, ok?
Look, copying Apple with a design over function is not always a good thing ok? Simple isn't always better, sometimes functional and usable really is more important ok? Grr
/arrow keys in the Android keyboard - where did they go? My list of examples could go on and on. People need to quit assuming that apple does things better just because their apple and do their own thing. dammit.
...for your computer.
I miss borg gates
I noticed something strange about the "Microsoft" word mark on these devices. It's no longer bold italic and no longer with a notch cut into the 'o'. I'm not saying these products are fake, but is Microsoft rebranding itself?
Ha, ha. I get it.
Shouldn't groups of Microsoft products be referred to as a rafter?
Have gnu, will travel.
From what I can tell, this is the first actual Bluetooth keyboard to be released by Microsoft for years. Looking for a replacement for my Wireless Entertainment Keyboard 7000, all I could find from Microsoft were "wireless" keyboards, using their usual proprietary wireless connections (and no mention of encryption).
Wake me when they bring back their best input device ever... the 5-button Microsoft Trackball Optical. Ergonomic, useful, and an efficient number and layout of buttons for work and play.
As for WinMetro, what use is a mouse? Can somebody explain how, WITHOUT USING A KEYBOARD, you can exit a Metro app on the desktop strictly by GUI?
Microsoft shills keep popping up explaining how we are all idiots for notusing the simple keyboard shortcuts. I rebut this by stating a UI is useless if you MUST use the keyboard to do basic operations (like exit the app)
i like the touch strip idea replacing the mouse wheel (i've had many broken wheels over the years). i just hope it can be clicked like a mouse wheel.
this: "The Wedge Touch Mouse is an artful product shaped as an angular wedge..."
as this: "The Wedge Touch Mouse is an awful product shaped as an angular wedge..."
Looking at it, it in no way looks like it is designed for comfort of use.
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
http://www.chungcu24h.com.vn/
I have the Mighty Mouse and it's my favorite out of probably a dozen I've tried. Apple quit making it in favor of the Magic Mouse, which I hate. I know people have had issues with the Mighty Mouse ball getting stuck, and from time to time mine gets stuck. However, a good soaking in 90% alcohol and a stiff fabric (I use a piece of denim on a wood surface, invert the mouse and rub the ball vigorously) and all is right with the world. A little compressed air gets whatever is left. I even bought a spare in case the one I'm using quits working for good. The one I'm using has been in service for a good 5 years so far...
Microsoft hardware has consistently been good stuff. If they would abandon coding altogether, their company might have potential.
The single most perfect input device ever created was made by Microsoft: the Trackball Explorer. With a futuristic, ergonomic shape (it's the navigation control for Moya) that's comfortable to use all day, I can't believe they still stopped producing them.
All they need to do is bring this back with Bluetooth a few other touch-sensitive features, and I would be estatic. Not having to pay $400 for a replacement when my current one eventually dies would be nice, too.
We who run Linux can still pretty much be the masters of our own desktop domains. :-)
These look really compelling. I just want to handle and feel them before I buy.
I hope they release a large padded oval button controller that we can slam our heads into repeatedly. That's how most people will be interacting with Windows 8 anyways.
Which input device turns on the start button?
I already have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for use with my notebook computer when working in my home office. The keyboard is solar powered while the mouse requires 2-AA batteries. The only wires are the power cord for the notebook computer and the HDMI cable connecting the notebook computer to the 22-inch HDTV which I use as an HD monitor. By the way, Logitech makes these two peripherals. For the win I am running Ubuntu with Microsoft Windows 7 in a virtual machine.
Mouse should be designed to be useful not to resemble abstract art.
Touch pads suck enough on laptops I see no need to have one built into my mouse..I'll keep my physical scroll wheel thank you very much.
And the first input devices designed "for" Win8 is... a new keyboard and mouse? Is Microsoft paying any attention?
An overpriced netbook (Surface) and a bag full of wireless junk is BETTER than a 17" laptop? What are these people smoking? Apple stopped making a 17" MacBook Pro, and now MS thinks overpriced netbooks are the future. Don't people use computers to do real work these days?
Normally I like Microsoft hardware. Their mice and keyboards are good (not the best, but the best for a reasonable price), and the Xbox controller is one of the best controllers you can find (I have two and I don't even own an Xbox!).
But these?
SHIT on a fucking STICK these suck. The wedge looks unusable. It was obviously aimed at being tiny (for laptops), but it's not much smaller than the Logitech wireless I have, which has ergonomic contours and a proper mouse wheel.
The small keyboard combines the worst parts of a bad laptop keyboard with none of the advantages. Half the keys looked too small to even hit reliably.
The full-size mouse was the closest to being decent, but it made the mistake of thinking expensive, fancy touch surfaces HAVE to be better than anything else. It's not. After using Apple's no-button mouse, I can say for sure that I will never use any mouse without an actual fucking wheel. It's just not usable.
And then there was that curved, "ergonomic" keyboard. Which looked about as comfortable to use as a keyboard made of razor blades and used needles. Maybe it's just me (not a fan of so-called "ergonomic" keyboards), but I wouldn't take one of those even if it was free.
So that's zero products out of four that I'd even think about buying. Which is about what the rest of Microsoft is batting - so at least they fail consistently.
This article again makes me mourn the loss of Logitech's corded trackball lines. Over the years I've had to progressively downgrade my trackballs as they died and were no longer available. I avoid wireless desktop peripherals because batteries are absolutely unnecessary waste in a fixed installation which doesn't need backup power. The only wireless desktop devices I'll use are Wacom mice and pens, since they work via induction rather than batteries.
Since the only corded Logitech trackball still being manufactured is the (to me) eminently uncomfortable Trackman Marble, I think I'm going to have to break down and model a Marble FX case which will fit the Marble electronics then have it 3D printed somewhere. You'd think it might be worthwhile for Logitech to revisit their discontinued trackballs, since they typically sell for 2-3x used what they ever did new. A 15-year-old FX in terrible condition will still sell for what it cost new.
Making hardware like keyboards is one of the few areas where Microsoft has shown some degree of competence over the years. They should recognise where their real strengths lie and can their failing software business.
the price of the retail dvd
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
if you've never seen an apple wireless keyboard and mouse
http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/iMac-right-angled-Wireless-Keyboard-Magic-Mouse.png
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.