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Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

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Re: Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

#11

Post by Jacob4u2 »

mamp wrote: post #5
avolcano wrote: post #4

Before you pass this off as a Synergy clone, check this out: > As Microsoft's Steve Clayton explains, "I have two PC’s on my desk at work connected to 3 LCD screens and using Mouse Without Borders I can move my mouse between the 3 screens, even though one of them is attached to a different PC from the other two. What’s more, I can move files between the 2 computers simply by dragging them from one desktop to another.…

So the question is do you need a whole separate unit within a company to create this "innovation"? Sometimes in microsoft land "innovation" == "not reading widely enough".

I don't think the "Garage" is necessarily a separate unit.

> “The Garage is open to anyone, which means we have people from all over the company working together. The Garage provides support through Garage Weeks, Science Fairs, free hosting, and a worldwide community to help you build things you wouldn’t be able to accomplish on your own,” Hawkins said." - http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/Features/2011/aug11/08-19...

I'll leave the troll bait "'Innovation == not reading widely enough'" statement alone even though I'm severely tempted to waste my time on that.

Re: Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

#12

Post by cincinnatus »

The most annoying thing about this is not the existing similar products. It is that Microsoft was demonstrating this capability in their business showcase on the MS campus almost 10 years ago! Drag from desktop to laptop, shared mouse and drag and drop to copy. Lots of great ideas never seem to get past prototype.

Re: Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

#13

Post by jtreminio »

Urgo wrote: post #10

Will give this a shot since maybe since its by microsoft it will integrate a bit better but yeah its nothing new. Many of you already brought up synergy as doing this same function which is true, I used to use that, but for the past 3 or so years I've been using Input Director ( http://www.inputdirector.com/ ) which also does the file transfer thing. I don't really see this being any different then Input Director..

Input Directory is a top-notch program, and I suggest it to all my friends over Synergy.

Re: Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

#14

Post by buff-a »

avolcano wrote: post #4

Before you pass this off as a Synergy clone, check this out: > As Microsoft's Steve Clayton explains, "I have two PC’s on my desk at work connected to 3 LCD screens and using Mouse Without Borders I can move my mouse between the 3 screens, even though one of them is attached to a different PC from the other two. What’s more, I can move files between the 2 computers simply by dragging them from one desktop to another.…

The ability to drag files or log in once hardly makes up for the fact that I have three computers and only one of them runs Windows.

What’s more, I can move files between the 2 computers simply by dragging them from one desktop to another

I can drag files from my PC to my Mac (or other PCs) using two folders on the PCs desktop without any extra software.

EDIT: Removed sarcasm.

Re: Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

#15

Post by snow_mac »

avolcano wrote: post #4

Before you pass this off as a Synergy clone, check this out: > As Microsoft's Steve Clayton explains, "I have two PC’s on my desk at work connected to 3 LCD screens and using Mouse Without Borders I can move my mouse between the 3 screens, even though one of them is attached to a different PC from the other two. What’s more, I can move files between the 2 computers simply by dragging them from one desktop to another.…

Yes. But Garage probably stole the idea.

http://synergy-foss.org/pm/issues/47

Synergy isn't very developed but they do have an extensive roadmap, which Microsoft seems to have copied and implemented. This doesn't make them innovative, just coping a good idea.

Maybe if this run on OS X I'd use it, but I'll stick to my separate Mouse/Keyboards for now. Btw, back in the day, I did love Synergy.

Re: Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

#16

Post by drivebyacct2 »

xpaulbettsx wrote: post #9
mamp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the question is do you need a whole separate unit within a company to create this "innovation"? Sometimes in microsoft land "innovation" == "not reading widely enough".

The Garage is a community, not a paid group (sometimes this isn't clear to folks outside of MS). The point you should take from this news though, is that Microsoft is now helping its developers release their projects they hack on in their spare time as Microsoft, if they meet the quality bars as well as being popular / useful enough inside Microsoft.

This is my precise issue with Microsoft today. People rush to use Entity Framework, despite more featureful community projects that are better tested and have a wide base of users. There is a poor or nonexistent community surrounding many of the Microsoft technologies. The fact that community projects targeting Microsoft properties have to be released with Microsoft's control and branding is very disappointing.

Re: Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

#17

Post by xpaulbettsx »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #16
xpaulbettsx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Garage is a community, not a paid group (sometimes this isn't clear to folks outside of MS). The point you should take from this news though, is that Microsoft is now helping its developers release their projects they hack on in their spare time as Microsoft, if they meet the quality bars as well as being popular / useful enough inside Microsoft.

This is my precise issue with Microsoft today. People rush to use Entity Framework, despite more featureful community projects that are better tested and have a wide base of users. There is a poor or nonexistent community surrounding many of the Microsoft technologies. The fact that community projects targeting Microsoft properties have to be released with Microsoft's control and branding is very disappointing.

I have no idea what you're trying to tell me. How is EF related to developers working on side projects?

Re: Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

#18

Post by drivebyacct2 »

xpaulbettsx wrote: post #17
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my precise issue with Microsoft today. People rush to use Entity Framework, despite more featureful community projects that are better tested and have a wide base of users. There is a poor or nonexistent community surrounding many of the Microsoft technologies. The fact that community projects targeting Microsoft properties have to be released with Microsoft's control and branding is very disappointing.

I have no idea what you're trying to tell me. How is EF related to developers working on side projects?

Sorry, I took "The Garage is a community" to mean non-Microsoft employees. More to that apology, a re-read of your comment leaves me wondering just what I was thinking. Alas, I'll continue with my thoughts; feel free to ignore them or consider them OT; I apologize.

My point might be summarized or expressed in a different way. I worked with .NET for the last 12 months and I can remember (just off the top of my head) 4 distinct issues that were trivial to fix but where not documented or described anywhere. They were weeks of work. On the other hand, I'm working with non-Microsoft tools and languages now, and I've had more than three of these scale of issues resolved in literally less than a minute in an IRC channel, and if not, in a tweet, or a forum post.

My joke is that if Google/Binging is not productive in a .NET technology/tool/etc, my next best hope is posting on a forum with ridiculously buggy forum-software, and waiting two weeks for a response. There have been more than one post about this phenomena on HN as well. To be clear, I don't necessarily think this is a "Microsoft problem", I'm just not sure why the tactics and resources available for more open or community-based projects are so vastly different than the .NET/Azure/Windows scene (again, in my experience).

Re: Microsoft Garage releases Mouse Without Borders

#20

Post by xpaulbettsx »

snow_mac wrote: post #15
avolcano wrote: post #4

Before you pass this off as a Synergy clone, check this out: > As Microsoft's Steve Clayton explains, "I have two PC’s on my desk at work connected to 3 LCD screens and using Mouse Without Borders I can move my mouse between the 3 screens, even though one of them is attached to a different PC from the other two. What’s more, I can move files between the 2 computers simply by dragging them from one desktop to another.…

Yes. But Garage probably stole the idea. http://synergy-foss.org/pm/issues/47 Synergy isn't very developed but they do have an extensive roadmap, which Microsoft seems to have copied and implemented. This doesn't make them innovative, just coping a good idea. Maybe if this run on OS X I'd use it, but I'll stick to my separate Mouse/Keyboards for now. Btw, back in the day, I did love Synergy.

Synergy's been around for years and is still difficult to use. Ideas that don't have good execution aren't worth anything to users.
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