Today, I received this communication from Microsoft TechNet... where I normally only get the Newsletters, which are also becoming very boring and very Ad / Spam ish.

lol. Now I must protest. I use (and have used, since 1998) a Logitec TrackMan Marble FX. This "mouse" predates optical and laser technology, and "works on any surface" including glass, and allows me (most importantly) to move the pointer without moving my hand at all.

In fact, it's greatest let down (aside from the fact that it also pre-dates the "scroll wheel" and requires custom drivers for the 3rd and 4th buttons which do not support modern operating systems, since more than 2 buttons was also very rare when it was made) is that it was only ever available with a PS2 connecter, and as such is very difficult to attach to a Mac... and some of the more recent laptops.

What's worse, is that the first test in this "game" is to install Microsoft Silverlight... Err, no! There are many people who, for various reasons, cannot install Silverlight. The Internet is for everyone, I will not promote a web based technology which enforces that pages using it are only accessible by people using one companies products.

You cannot load a Silverlight page on your Mac, iPhone, Android Phone, PS3 or (without a hell of a lot of faffing around and good luck) Linux / BSD machine. You might as well make an entire web site out of HyperGuide stacks. At least enough was known about these technologies that third parties could read HyperGuide stacks on something other than a Mac.

The same problem presented with RealPlayer, and is happening again with Flash in the hands of Adobe. Under Macromedia, the source code to the latest Flash player plug-in was always available to the public. That source hasn't been updated since Adobe took over. So now, SVG animations play more universally than anything that requires a version of Flash plug-in above version 8. Especially as Adobe will not (cannot?) release a version of the plug-in that works on 64-bit systems other than Apple Mac. (No 64-bit Linux or Windows versions exist)

If 64-bit Windows users are forced to use Silverlight for rapid multi-media and Mac users to stick with Flash, with X-Windows based POSIX users (including non-Windows mobile devices) running only SVG, the World Wide Web is fractured. It is no standard at all.

And back to the "mouse" issue, IMHO, we do not need more reliable "mouse" technologies, what we need is less reliance on a "mouse" like device to operate the pointer.

I have used tablet PCs, and find the touch-screen stylus method of mouse control very convenient... but playing WoW on a desktop setup with my arm out stretched pressing a stylus into the screen to guide my character would not be very beneficial... and in tense raid times I think I'm likely to skewer the LCD trying to kill an instance end game boss.

I quite like the touch screen methods of using an iPhone or PDA. Especially Apples 2 finger approach. Though anyone from my home land who things giving Apple 2 fingers is funny and cover their smirk in my presence. ;)

Graphics tablets have never really taken off, and shining lasers into peoples eyes to track the location on the screen they are focusing on is not great for the health of ones retina.

Touch Pads seem to be a love hate thing. I've used good ones, and bad ones... and I still feel that, for the portability of the laptop (that is, when using it without a desk to hand) the touch pad still exceeds the practicality of any mouse. But my beloved Trackball still wins out.

I've seen pointers which are similar to laser pens for presentations, where the on screen pointer moves to where ever you point the puck in your arm, and this can be used whilst wandering the auditorium or lecture hall. Unfortunately you can't easily do the same for a keyboard, and it's hard to operate a keyboard with a puck in one hand anyway.

You see, the thing about a touch pad, graphics tablet, touch screen or trackball, is that you can use them, even on a duvet cover, or waterbed. You don't need any surface, solid or otherwise to perform your pointing operations. The tablet, touch pad and touch screen provide their own surfaces, and the trackball can be held in the hand and rolled with fingers alone. It's a little like playing "round and round the garden" upside down.

For the time being, I'm happy to stick with my trackball. But I think the days of the "mouse" should surely be numbered... and I wish people would stop trying to re-invent the wheel. I have seen no mouse which is better than the roller ball versions which came with Classic Macs, Amigas and as expansions to the old 8-bit computers. My AMX Mouse on my ZX Spectrum was just as effective as any modern laser tracking mouse, and just as flawed. The tracking technology is not the problem... it is the design for an analogue input device.

I have seen drivers which allow one to use an analogue joystick to control the mouse pointer, and this was pretty instinctive, and did not require any surface to mount the joystick on. (a lap is usually sufficient)

I remember that the Mouse on my Atari ST was quite flakey, and so I often resorted to using the Alt and Cursor keys to move the pointer... just as I often resort to "mouse-keys" Accessibility feature in Windows. It's not accurate enough for art and design work, but it's often easier than taking your hand off the keyboard just to click send in some idiot written instant messenger which doesn't assign a key on the keyboard to the send button... like "Return" would be nice. I'm sure many keyboard lovers have come across programs which use a point an click control which cannot be activated with the keyboard, when the main program is all about typing something.

At any rate. I think that any technology which claims to revolutionise the state-of-the-art mouse, at this point in time, is rather like a state-of-the-art hammer. As in, it's just a hammer. There are better ways of banging things into other things, and though many can do things a hammer alone cannot, few are a versatile as a hammer... even so, it's still just a hammer, and, for short term use, a lead or stone hammer is just as effective as a carbon-fiber super-hammer.

For long term use, my uber trackball is still going strong. It's accurate, it's precise, it's fast, it's got more buttons than modern generic drivers can cope with, and it's so outdated and unsupported, was it really necessary for it to be so good in the first place? Either way... When it finally breaks, or PS/2 ports stop being fitted in computers, I will have to cry long and hard. There will probably be great expense involved in it's funeral.

Come back Apple Mighty-Mouse, all is forgiven?...

DUDE!!! IT'S JUST A FREEKING MOUSE!!!