Microsoft’s prototype mice
October 6, 2009 by Robin Parrish
Filed under Electronics
As further evidence of just how feared and respected Apple is in the electronics industry — their every product is scrutinized, studied at length, and its new ideas and design aesthetics copied by pretty much everyone else — Microsoft has secretly been at work on a whole bunch of new prototypes for a multitouch mouse. The folks at MS Labs are doing some wildly cool stuff, but are they merely reacting once again to Apple’s already-rumored efforts to release a multitouch mouse of their own?
Multitouch, in case you’re not familiar with the term, refers to gesture-based controls primarily used on touchscreen devices, usually where two or more fingers are used to do things like scroll, and zoom in and out. CrunchGear got the lowdown on not one, but five distinctly different and unique types of multitouch mice that are under development by the brainy types at Microsoft, and you can see their intriguing capabilities in this video.
The real question, though, is whether or not the mouse has enough life left in it to justify adding multitouch. Touchscreen devices are quickly becoming the wave of the future. If the mouse is on its way out of fashion, can it survive consumers’ wants and needs long enough to take advantage of multitouch technology?
As CrunchGear rightly points out, making a solid mouse is an area that Microsoft truly excels in, while every mouse Apple has ever made has kinda sucked. Seriously, has Apple ever had a successful mouse? The Mighty Mouse ain’t bad, but it ain’t great, either, and still leaves a lot to be desired from many users.
What do you think? Would you buy a multitouch mouse from Microsoft based on the innovative ideas on display in the video above?
