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All-Terrain Mouse

Microsoft has always had an odd approach to PC hardware. First and foremost, the company doesn't want to compete with its OEMs. But Redmond wanted a few dollars so it started building mice, which in the early days Windows enabled character-based PCs. In a similar vein, Microsoft sold an add-in PC accelerator card, again aimed at running Windows.

While Microsoft has branched into Zunes and Xboxes on the entertainment side, its PC hardware business still revolves largely around mice. Not too exciting, right? Wrong!

Microsoft's newest mouse, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000, does away with the old mouse ball and uses optics for tracking. This way, it doesn't have to glide smoothly over the surface and, as Microsoft claims, can even work on a "shag carpet." Pretty slick.

Posted by Doug Barney on June 22, 2009


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