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A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

blogs.windows.com

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Re: A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

#101

Post by tomnipotent »

tjoff wrote: post #93

It’s performance innovations like these and working closer with the community to understand the needs of our consumers that will help influence future Microsoft mice. I thought the verdict of the Classic IntelliMouse was dead on arrival by the gaming community just because the sensor was subpar. It really seemed as if MS was exceptionally tone deaf to the community in this case (which is weird since they explicitly m…

> Classic IntelliMouse was dead on arrival by the gaming community

I was competitive gamer during that era (played for CS clan The Speakeasy Offensive, or TSO). Only the first release had a sub-par sensor (think 100 dpi?), but everything afterwards dominated traditional trackball mice. By the time my favorite mouse of all time was released in 2002 (Logitech MX500), I don't know of a single serious gamer that wasn't using optical.

Re: A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

#102

Post by weaksauce »

zrm wrote: post #70

How about bringing back the original version of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Natural_Keyboard Just take the 1994 version and remake it in USB, with no other changes whatsoever. Thanks.

I would love that one with mechanical switches though.

Re: A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

#103

Post by Phrodo_00 »

zrm wrote: post #70

How about bringing back the original version of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Natural_Keyboard Just take the 1994 version and remake it in USB, with no other changes whatsoever. Thanks.

Would be nice if they added mechanical switches though. MX Browns or the like would be ideal.

Re: A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

#104

Post by Marsymars »

Analemma_ wrote: post #50
coreymaass wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a leftie but started on mice in the 90s with my right hand, so I never had to relearn. I used the Microsoft Trackball Explorer for a decade. I'm many years into the Logitech Cordless TrackMan Optical, but mine is starting to have problems. Every couple of months I look for the "next thing" but didn't know there's a patent on trackballs preventing production. Heartbreaking.

Same here: lefty but mouses with my right hand (which is pretty much the only thing I use my right hand for). Are there actually any lefties who use their left hand to use the mouse? Using the right hand is so much more convenient because then I can simultaneously type with my dominant hand. I'm surprised more righties don't mouse with their left hand, tbh.

Righty and use left hand at my office and right hand at home. CST trackball in both locations. Keeps the wear and exercise even across my left/right hands.

Probably can't effectively play fast-twitch games with my left hand, but only took a couple weeks to get up to speed for normal PC work when I started using my left hand.

Amusingly, I switched to trackball with my right hand from mouse after I'd already been using trackball with my left hand for a while - the muscle memory didn't transfer over, so I was more adept with my left hand for a few weeks until my right caught up.

Re: A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

#105

Post by Zelphyr »

sho wrote: post #23

I'm happy to see this, although it's kind of disappointing that "perfect" products are ever retired in the first place in the constant drive for change, often simply for change's sake. I'm not against improvement, of course - the iPhone X is one of the most perfect products I've ever had the pleasure of owning - but at the same time the current Macbook Pro is the first model I've literally not wanted because of how b…

> I suppose it's hard for companies to recognise when they're at "peak function" and to just stop changing things

This is so true and really becoming a problem in tech. Another good example is Google Maps. The browser version used to be great. And then they went and “improved” it and in the process actually made it harder to use, in my opinion.

Re: A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

#106

Post by ISL »

zrm wrote: post #70

How about bringing back the original version of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Natural_Keyboard Just take the 1994 version and remake it in USB, with no other changes whatsoever. Thanks.

I've used the v1, the Elite, the Pro, the 4000, and now the Sculpt Ergonomic (this comment typed on the latter). In my opinion, each has been better than the last.

It is pretty hard for to work in the same room as anyone using anything prior to the 4000, due to the loud spacebar, and even the 4000's spacebar is pretty loud. I do slightly prefer the larger hump of the early keyboards.

The Sculpt Ergonomic is a departure from the large-bodied models of the past, but for those pining for the past, give the present/future a try :).

Microsoft's HID hardware has, in my experience, always been great. Thank you, everyone who has made these tools possible.

Re: A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

#107

Post by evincarofautumn »

teslabox wrote: post #13

I wish they'd bring back the Microsoft Trackball Explorer - the button switches on mine eventually wore out. This had five buttons - left, right, scroll-click, forward, back (all programmable). https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=microsoft%20trackball%2... Question for the lefties: what kind of pointing device do you prefer? Mouse? Touchpad? Do you prefer to swap L&R clicks when you use other people's computers?

As an ambidextrous-enough person (lefty for a lot of things but write right-handed), for a while my preferred computer setup was a mouse on the left—buttons not swapped, so primary click was on the (stronger) middle finger and right-click/scroll was on the (literally more dexterous) index finger—and a drawing tablet on the right, since I was doing a lot of digital design/painting. Having two pointing devices, one relative and one absolute, felt really useful, as if I could really get in there and manipulate the computer more directly & precisely. Dunno if that was just my perception or if it actually made me any defter.

Nowadays I just use the touchpad on my MBP.

Re: A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

#109

Post by toyg »

sho wrote: post #23

I'm happy to see this, although it's kind of disappointing that "perfect" products are ever retired in the first place in the constant drive for change, often simply for change's sake. I'm not against improvement, of course - the iPhone X is one of the most perfect products I've ever had the pleasure of owning - but at the same time the current Macbook Pro is the first model I've literally not wanted because of how b…

> it's hard for companies to recognise when they're at "peak function" and to just stop changing things

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it", as Upton Sinclair famously wrote. Product managers (or rather product-people in general, including designers and so on) don't get bonuses for saying "the product is perfect as it is, we'll just keep paying a full team to fix bugs and do basic maintenance, forever".

Re: A legend reborn: Microsoft brings back the iconic Classic IntelliMouse

#110

Post by rodrigocoelho »

dangelov wrote: post #5

I really wish they'd bring out an update to their Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 [0] instead. Even if it's the exact same mouse, just with a nano receiver rather than the old, giant receiver. The supposed successor, the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse [1], doesn't quite feel the same. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Wireless-Laser-Mous... [1] https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Sculpt-Ergonomi…

Wanted to buy new a Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 5000 Keyboard, but no luck. Best keyboard I have ever used. The mouse was also very good.
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