OpenOffice.org Plans to Release 18 Button Mouse
OpenOffice.org is planning to give keyboards a run for their usability with the release of its 18 button mouse in February, next year. The mouse will come in handy for OpenOffice users and gamers alike. OpenOffice.org starts taking orders for the manufacturing of the new revamped mouse from next month.
This is how the mouse looks in the website:
OO-mouse-model
And this is how it will look on your table:
oo-mouse-model
The mouse has 18 programmable buttons, a scroll wheel and a 512K flash memory. The mouse has default profiles for the five core OpenOffice.org apps and 20 other games and applications. Apart from that, the mouse will support a total of 63 different profiles. OpenOfice.org will release an application at the beginning of next year which will help us configure the profiles according to our needs.
OO claims that the mouse will also feature the worlds first ‘analog joystick on a mouse’ and the joystick will act as a keyboard as well.
“You can do far more with this mouse than most people are likely to realize at first,” said mouse designer Theodore Beale. “You can launch applications from the desktop, and in your browser you can fire up a specific Internet site with one button, then close it with a double-click on the same button. In Writer and Calc, you can have your most powerful and complicated macros on one row of buttons and simple functions like Bold, Undo, and Format Cell on another. It’s very useful in games like World of Warcraft, because even without taking the joystick into account, you’ve got 16 commands within one click, 40 within two, and all 72 icons on the six action pages within just two double-clicks or less.”
In spite of all these features, the mouse still takes us back into the era of wired and corded mice, where on the other hand, more and more companies are coming up with cordless mice, though ,this will hopefully change in future models. Rest assured, this mouse will be a first buy on any gamers list.
[ On-table Image from The Register ]
Pallab
November 10th, 2009 at 12:31 pm #
I really doubt gamers will but this. Its bulky and clumsy. It may have 18 buttons, but most of them are awkwardly placed.
Actually over the past few days, it has already been mocked and ridiculed all over the internet.
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Chinmoy Kanjilal
November 10th, 2009 at 1:31 pm #
well, to some extent, yes. The mouse has six buttons for each finger, considering 3 on button, one on wheel, too much to take for me. But, whether it is a bloatware or a uber-cool gizmo, time will tell. With games high on combo moves, this mouse has no reason to fail.
As far as the Internet is concerned, that is the exact expected reaction.
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Pallab Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Forget about the buttons, forget about the fact that you have to remember 18 button combinations (and also choose the correct one almost instantly), just imagine yourself holding that mouse. Tell be honestly, how many times are you going to end up clicking the wrong button accidentally. Once again, just have a look at the first screenshot.
What in the world was Open Office thinking?
Btw, congrats on writing 100 articles.
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