I've gotten a couple of comments that I take a while to get to the point; I'm abashed, as I did study journalism and was a newspaper reporter for a couple of years.
So I'll put it right out there; if you're mobile and do the kind of work where using the laptop mousepad just doesn't cut it, get one of these new Optical Mouse Blues. I bought an Explorer Mini Mouse (four button, wireless, multi-directional mousewheel) at Staples for 50ish bucks. Thumbs up.
Great features: the new Optical Track Blue technology allows the mouse to track reliably on just about any surface. They say "not clear glass or mirrored", but I use it on a clear glass table and it works fine...not "sort of", but completely fine.
It also has a little "snap in" recess on the underside that allows you to store the USB receiver (which is suitably small), and when you do so, it completely powers down the mouse. This has been a problem in the past; I'd open up my bag, see the mouse laser active, and know that my battery would be on the wane.
And now the discourse:
This blog is about things that matter to me as an independent software developer; part of that means buying tools that allow me to work faster and smarter. Sure, I don't want to have my pants pulled down when I hand over a credit card for new equipment, but if the tool lets me do my job better-faster-stronger, I'll lay out the cash and look forward to the write-off.
I work in a lot of different places; onsite for client presentations, code reviews, and plain ol' hacking away. If you do the same, you can appreciate why I'd be interested in a mouse that supposedly works reliably on more surfaces. Chrome, stainless steel desks, glass table tops, textured counters, granite, and any number of other non-optimal mousing surfaces, can stymie the standard "red" optical mouse. Since I typically don't carry a mousepad in my bag, especially these days when I'm all about traveling as light as possible, I've ended up using a magazine or notepad...which, as you may know, totally sucks.
So I took the plunge and bought one of these new Optical Blue Track things--Microsoft actually made the press announcement in Sept. 2008, see here--and so far, I'm happy with it. There really is a difference. In fact, more of a difference than they seem to think.
Cases in point: my dining room table. It's a textured wood surface. My Logitech laser mouse seems to get hung up on it a lot; I'll move the mouse, the cursor jitters. So I switch to the Microsoft USB explorer (red laser) mouse; better, but not great, and it doesn't have all the extra wheels and such that the Logitech one has. Same for watching TV and mousing on the couch cushions. I always end up just using the laptop touchpad, which even after all these years, I still don't like; gimme a regular mouse any day.
The Blue Track Mouse, as long as I can keep it in more-or-less steady contact, is a rock. Interestingly enough, Microsoft says it doesn't work on clear glass surfaces. I beg to differ; I have a laptop on a glass table that I use for powering my Line6 POD (a digital effects modeler for guitarists), and it works fine. The table is clear glass, there's no tint. Kudos to Microsoft for the warning, but I'm tellin' ya, it works.
And, the blue glow is REALLY cool :)
So there you go; another positive recommendation from this indie software developer.
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