Red nosed rodent (Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse)

Member Name: thehud

Product:	Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse
Date:	22/02/04 (188 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Functional, User friendy

Disadvantages: Still wired

The mouse, the humble little mouse, so often neglected and ignored and taken for granted, and yet so absolutely vital for a decent computing experience.

Now, we all know what the mouse is all about, otherwise you wouldn?t be reading this, but just for completeness I?ll give you the basic facts.

The mouse (or any kind of pointing device for that matter) is one of the most essential parts of the interface between man and machine. You use the keyboard to enter data and words, but the mouse is the instinctive little tool you use to navigate your way round applications to select and enter and all other good things.

In the very early days of PC?s, you could get by without a mouse but they quickly became absolutely vital for a complete computing experience, but they didn?t tend to be very good or user friendly. The wire would get in the way or the roller ball inside the mouse and the wheels it activates would get all gunked up with the debris that seems to so happily collect itself on your workstation. When it gets inside the gubbins of your mouse then things get extremely grubby, clumsy and unworkable and so unresponsive you could cry.

It quickly became clear that the open mouse and the loose roller ball inside was the main issue and so lo and behold we were presented with the new breed, the optical mouse.

This ingenious little rodent is a sealed tool which works on the basis of sending out light beams to detect the movements and so avoids all that trouble with rubbish getting inside your beastie's guts. It's a marvellous improvement and makes the optical mouse a significant improvement on its more basic standard, naked roller ball version.

Microsoft's basic optical mouse is a fine and cheap version of the product which like much of Bill gates' product range does the basics very well indeed. A wireless version is a better option becau
se you can get away with the lead which often gets in the way and restricts movements or gets tangled up underneath in your feet, really getting on your nerves, but in the meantime the wired optical mouse is a good product.

It's very easy to install, with either a PS or USB connection and you'll soon be up and running with it and enjoying a new surfing experience. There's a lovely red glow which is very intriguing for dummies and initially conjures up all sorts of impressions of Star Wars characters until you realise people are watching you and get back to business. There's the normal left click and right click buttons, which you can swap over, along with facilities to speed up responsiveness and sensitivity and the scroll wheel in the middle which is a great little advantage when you get used to it.

The mouse fits neatly and sweetly into the hands and isn't too heavy. The wiring is a tiny bit of a distraction, and the feet underneath your mouse do still pick up a fair amount of rubbish but that's a fairly minor gripe. The MS mouse is cheap and effective and very user friendly. It might be worth paying quite a bit extra if you want a massive step forward or really need to have wires free or want a load of programmable features or require left right scrolling but for most everyday uses, then this red nosed rodent is just fine. If you have to choose between a wireless mouse with a ball, and a wired mouse with optical navigation, then go for the latter, because you know it makes sense. I LIKE IT.

Summary: