The Hindu : Front Page : Microsoft unleashes mouse family

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 19, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Microsoft unleashes mouse family

Anand Parthasarathy

— Photo: Microsoft

MOUSETRAP: (Clockwise from top) Microsoft’s convertible Arc Mouse; Sidewinder X5 for gamers; Explorer Mini and Wireless Mobile mouse 3000.

BANGALORE: It is a sign of the times that when you search Wikipedia, the encyclopaedia of the Web, for the term ‘mouse,’ the first definition that pops up says it is “a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface.”

The ‘other’ mouse – a member of the rodent family – pops up much lower in a Google search. Even more revealing, the plural of mouse (computer) is ‘mouse devices’ or even ‘mouses’ – and only rarely ‘mice.’

One could appreciate why last week when Microsoft, a company we associate mostly with PC software rather than hardware, unveiled an entire family of mice – sorry, mouse devices – that will be available soon in India.

The king of the pack, so to speak, is the Arc Mouse. It combines the functionality of a desktop as well as a portable mouse. When you travel, you can fold down the Arc to 60 per cent of its size and use the shrunken version with a notebook PC. The cost for this two-in-one mouse? Rs. 5788.

The Sidewinder X5 is a special mouse for games addicts. It has two additional customisable buttons on the side and you can set the sensitivity to 400, 800 or 2000 dots per inch on this ‘fast and furious’ mouse (Rs. 3110).

The Explorer Mini Mouse has special BlueTrack technology which allows you to roll it over any kind of surface: a marble floor, a carpet, or a wooden table top, great for mobile workers (Rs. 2894). And the baby of the brood is the Wireless Mobile Mouse 3000, with four buttons and a scroll wheel. It links to the laptop wirelessly (Rs.1357). Many of these models come with power save features, allowing you to turn off the mouse when not in use to conserve its batteries. They have every kind of mouse, including Mini. So, how about a ‘Mickey Mouse’ next time?

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page