4 ms·

The heavy, cream-colored two-button serial mice were the best on the market at the time, and the Sidewinder Pro was a very nice joystick. The mice they sell to

by dfranke 17y ago

The heavy, cream-colored two-button serial mice were the best on the market at the time, and the Sidewinder Pro was a very nice joystick. The mice they sell today are simply ordinary, and no keyboard of theirs has ever held a candle to the old IBMs or the current DAS keyboards (among others). On the other hand, Windows 7 is the first Microsoft OS since 3.11 that I can use for a full day without doing unhealthy things to my blood pressure.

apotheon 17y ago
My all-time favorite pointing device was an optical trackball from Microsoft (I forget the model name). I haven't found one of those since the last I had one was stolen (yes, really) back in 2003ish. The IBM Model M [1] (and certain imitators), the Das Keyboard [2], the HP Wireless Elite [3], and even the keyboards on Thinkpads [4] are among my all-time top-five favorite keyboards. The original run of Microsoft Natural keyboards [5] (back before they became bulbous "multimedia" train wrecks of UI design [6][7]) were a very distant fifth place, though. 1: http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=61 http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=61 2: http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=1193 http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=1193 3: http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=865 http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=865 4: http://media.laptoplogic.com/data/reviews/images/73/keyboard.jpg http://media.laptoplogic.com/data/reviews/images/73/keyboard... 5: http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/M17-1806-main.jpg http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/M17-1806-main.... 6: http://www.pctechguide.com/images/51NaturalKeyboard.jpg http://www.pctechguide.com/images/51NaturalKeyboard.jpg 7: http://tinyurl.com/na5pos http://tinyurl.com/na5pos
- greyboy 17y ago
  You mean one of these? Yeah, Microsoft could make some good money bringing these back. I know I'd worry less about mine biting the dust. http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SEALED-RETAIL-PACKAGE-Microsoft-Optical-Trackball_W0QQitemZ260462385106QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item3ca4c497d2&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SEALED-RETAIL-PACKAGE-Microsoft-Opti... http://cgi.ebay.com/SEALED-BULK-RETAIL-PACKAGE-Microsoft-Optical-Trackball_W0QQitemZ270442159660QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item3ef79bde2c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 http://cgi.ebay.com/SEALED-BULK-RETAIL-PACKAGE-Microsoft-Opt... http://cgi.ebay.com/Microsoft-TrackBall-Optical-Mouse-PS-2-USB-refurbished_W0QQitemZ130325738876QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item1e5804f57c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 http://cgi.ebay.com/Microsoft-TrackBall-Optical-Mouse-PS-2-U...
  - apotheon 17y ago
    Yes! That's the one. . . . and no, I'm not willing to buy a trackball off eBay. Maybe I should start searching for old stock of these things again, though.
- lallysingh 17y ago
  I don't have a photo, but there was a version of the natural keyboard earlier on that didn't screw up the block of keys above the arrows. I had one of those, saw the new ones, and thought to myself: "They're embracing and extending the keyboard now, nothing is sacred."

by dfranke 17y ago

apotheon 17y ago

My all-time favorite pointing device was an optical trackball from Microsoft (I forget the model name). I haven't found one of those since the last I had one was stolen (yes, really) back in 2003ish. The IBM Model M [1] (and certain imitators), the Das Keyboard [2], the HP Wireless Elite [3], and even the keyboards on Thinkpads [4] are among my all-time top-five favorite keyboards. The original run of Microsoft Natural keyboards [5] (back before they became bulbous "multimedia" train wrecks of UI design [6][7]) were a very distant fifth place, though. 1: http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=61 http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=61 2: http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=1193 http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=1193 3: http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=865 http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=865 4: http://media.laptoplogic.com/data/reviews/images/73/keyboard.jpg http://media.laptoplogic.com/data/reviews/images/73/keyboard... 5: http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/M17-1806-main.jpg http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/M17-1806-main.... 6: http://www.pctechguide.com/images/51NaturalKeyboard.jpg http://www.pctechguide.com/images/51NaturalKeyboard.jpg 7: http://tinyurl.com/na5pos http://tinyurl.com/na5pos

greyboy 17y ago
You mean one of these? Yeah, Microsoft could make some good money bringing these back. I know I'd worry less about mine biting the dust. http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SEALED-RETAIL-PACKAGE-Microsoft-Optical-Trackball_W0QQitemZ260462385106QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item3ca4c497d2&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 http://cgi.ebay.com/New-SEALED-RETAIL-PACKAGE-Microsoft-Opti... http://cgi.ebay.com/SEALED-BULK-RETAIL-PACKAGE-Microsoft-Optical-Trackball_W0QQitemZ270442159660QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item3ef79bde2c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 http://cgi.ebay.com/SEALED-BULK-RETAIL-PACKAGE-Microsoft-Opt... http://cgi.ebay.com/Microsoft-TrackBall-Optical-Mouse-PS-2-USB-refurbished_W0QQitemZ130325738876QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item1e5804f57c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 http://cgi.ebay.com/Microsoft-TrackBall-Optical-Mouse-PS-2-U...
- apotheon 17y ago
  Yes! That's the one. . . . and no, I'm not willing to buy a trackball off eBay. Maybe I should start searching for old stock of these things again, though.
lallysingh 17y ago
I don't have a photo, but there was a version of the natural keyboard earlier on that didn't screw up the block of keys above the arrows. I had one of those, saw the new ones, and thought to myself: "They're embracing and extending the keyboard now, nothing is sacred."