Mousing Without Moving

Controlling objects on your monitor has gone through many phases, through trackballs, eraserhead pointers, foot controllers, and fingerpads. But the item that always seems to come out ahead is the mouse. Rather than try to create some wild-looking device to bring new cramps to gamers' hands, Microsoft has decided to enhance the mouse itself.

Yeah, we're heard it countless times before, but Microsoft's upcoming IntelliMouse Explorer device may have the best chance of showing up in place of the classic mouse. Recently shown at Windows World/Spring Comdex, the IntelliMouse Explorer shows off a sleek new design, with silver finish and a glowing red underbelly with two added buttons. It also includes the popular scrolling wheel, which can be found on all the latest mice from Microsoft. But what's missing is where the innovation is: This new mouse lacks the classic mouse ball known for its amazing ability to attract dust like a magnet. Microsoft's IntelliEye technology makes mouse pads a thing of the past, as it uses optical tracking to measure movement over a surface - be it paper, desk, your jeans, magazines, or anything else on your desk. The IntelliEye scans at 1,500 images per second with a DSP (digital signal processor) that figures out how far the mouse is moving.

Best of all, Microsoft says that years from now the IntelliMouse Explorer will work just as well as on the day you bought it. Microsoft appears to be extremely committed to the technology and will equip its original IntelliMouse with the technology this September 1999 with the release of the new IntelliMouse Explorer. The IntelliMouse Explorer will sell for about US$74.95 for either USB or PS/2 models, and the original IntelliMouse with IntelliEye will sell for $54.95 - A small price to pay for getting rid of that annoying, cheap mousepad that slides around your desk as you play your favorite first-person shooter, isn't it?