Openoffice.org present their own mouse- OOMouse

Whoever is doing this has gone to great lengths to make this look like it's a real thing and not a joke.

Well, they said it wasn't a joke.

And the picture is really good.

No one has ever faked evidence before, have they?

Did Darl ever find that briefcase?

Why does it have to be a joke? There have been weirder specialty input devices.

Specialty, as in "a mouse designed for operating the Large Hadron Collider."

Maltron single hand keyboard: https://www.renki.wpcomp.com/~ulmaster/Online-Store/Keyboard...

The Space Kadet Keyboard has 7 modifier keys instead of the usual 3. It has Control, Super, Hyper, Meta, Shift, Top and Front. That's over 8000 key combos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-cadet_keyboard

A 17 button mouse for MMO games: http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-naga

programmable, many-button 3D mouse: http://www.3dconnexion.com/3dmouse/spacepilot.php

Genreric, blank 58-key programmable keypad: http://xkeys.com/xkeys/xkpro.php

3D pen/manipulator: http://www.sensable.com/haptic-phantom-premium-6dof.htm

Frogpad. A full keyboard in just 20 keys: http://www.frogpad.com/

Datahand egronomic keyboard: http://www.datahand.com/products/default.htm

And that doesn't include things like joysticks, flight sim gear, etcetera.

I've been looking over the site and it looks interesting...if you're a hardcore gamer or application user that depends on lots of functions all the time. The site says the software will be released GPL in Jan.

With many of the more complex games and hardcore gamers, the rule for mice and joysticks is the more buttons the better.

I'm still wondering what exactly they put in the profile they list for Wesnoth though......

The folks behind the mouse hang out at http://voxday.blogspot.com/

The thread discussing the mouse can be found at http://voxday.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-case-youre-interested....

I wanted to buy a datahand, but it's too expensive ($500), and not being made anymore.

That's why I settled for the TypeMatrix USB 2020. The only keyboard I found where the keys are not oblique above one another. Because who has oblique fingers anyway?

I just wish there was some way of properly trying out these fancy keyboards. I think I could really benefit from something like that typematrix but it is too expensive to buy just to try it out for a couple of weeks.

Hans, you don't happen to have a couple of spare one's, do you?

It's not my cup of tea. I like my bog standard three button with scroll wheel mice. I've even heard rumors about some Mac users having been wheeled off to a sanitarium with severe psychological trauma after seeing a picture of this thing ;)

I can see this as a tool for people who need a lot of functionality with as little fuss as possible. A bit more for the "Mad Scientist" than Joe Average. Highly specialist.

What I do wonder about, is the affiliation of this mouse with the OpenOffice.org project. I can't imagine that this is a mouse that does good to the general reputation of OpenOffice.org. I can already hear this being used as fodder to discredit OOo.

"Hey man, have you seen the mouse YOU HAVE TO USE to be able to do anything in OpenOffice?! It's insane! It has more buttons than your keyboard! Better stay with Microsoft Office if you want to get anyting done!"

Never mind you can use any mouse with OOo, but most FOSS detractors never had any qualms about blatant lies before.

Oh well, time will tell.

The affiliation is simple marketing. Other many-button mice are marketed as gaming mice. That makes it a hard sell for people working in an office environment. "Hey boss! Can you buy me a new mouse? I really need this gaming mouse". No sell. But now you can sell your boss on an office mouse instead.

Marketing-wise it's brilliant IMHO

But now you can sell your boss on an office mouse instead.

I can see that the OOo affiliation is perfect for the mouse. An extreme niche mouse can hitch their cart to the OpenOffice.org branding.

What I'm having trouble with is the other way around. OOo rubs off on the mouse, but the mouse will also rub off on OOo. OOo associates itself with an extremely niche and overcomplicated piece of hardware. OOo as a general purpose office suite should appeal to as broad a public as possible. I don't see how lending your name to a small market, specialized piece of equipment fits in the marketing of a general purpose office.

OOo could get the perception of being overcomplicated, because "its" mouse is overly complicated too. I don't think that would be in the best interest of OOo.

As a geek toy this thing is uebercool (even if I don't see any personal use in it, I still find it a fascinating piece of hardware), but geek coolness might not particularly be what OOo needs marketing wise.

The mouse could have circumvented the "gaming" label by naming itself something like "Hyper-efficient Professional Programmable Mouse". "Boss, I need an HPPM to speed up my job." Problem solved.

A quick google around show that this mouse is getting quite a bit of attention, and from quite large sites as well. Sites that normally would not carry the OOo brand (or any FOSS for that matter). I think it's a good way to get the OOo brand in front of people that would normally not see it.

I don't believe the risk is too big that people will think that OOo must be complicated just because the mouse is.

> ...but most FOSS detractors never had any qualms about blatant lies before.

And since that's the case, what's the point in worrying about giving them fodder? If we don't, they'll just make something up anyway.

Worry about whether the mouse is useful or not, not what people will think of it. I can't see myself ever using it, but for some folks it's undoubtedly going to be a godsend.

Now where's that "egg"....

Oh well. I remember from a few years ago, egg shaped, one hand, chording keys, four or six thumb buttons and four finger buttons. Google's no help this time. Such is life.

I've got an old TypeMatrix 2020 as well floating around here somewhere. I bought it back in college when I wanted to learn dvorak and it was the only reasonably priced hardware switchable dvorak/qwerty keyboard around. Great keyboard. I don't use it these days because I tend to do gaming and such things that a keyboard without a separate numpad just doesn't work for well (and those standalone numpads tend to like to move around).

Maybe I'll pull it back out and see if I can get my numpad to stay still somehow....

The other drawback of course, is that you have to train yourself to be able to go back and forth between the straight layout of the TM and the staggered layout of other keyboards when you work with them...and of course between dvorak and qwerty if you use that.

Quoting:I just wish there was some way of properly trying out these fancy keyboards

I hope it arrives, I managed to submit the wrong postal code and the 'a' from 'Breda' is gone, so it's sent to the wrong postal code in the not existent city of 'Bred'. Apart from if you're not at home and US Postal can't deliver it (I never saw USP in NL anyway), maybe they'll send it back to the US. But if it arrives, I'll bring it to FOSDEM, which is about three months from now (or earlier if there is another event). If I'm still able to type on this Trust-keyboard (sure hope so!), I'll let you borrow it.

That would be great!