New Mouse from OpenOffice Packs 18 Buttons and a Joystick
Posted 11/09/09 at 06:51:34 AM by Paul Lilly
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A company called WarMouse has joined forces with OpenOffice to develop a rodent that will come in handy for anyone who hates memorizing keyboard shortcuts. You'll just have to remember what each button does instead, and there are a lot of them. Eighteen to be exact, each one programmable, and each one able to function in three different button modes: Key, Keypress, and Macro.
"You can do far more with this [device] than most people are likely to realize at first," explained mouse designer Theodore Beale. "You can launch applications from the desktop, and in your browser you can fire up a specific Internet site with one button, then close it with a double-click on the same button."
In addition to 18 buttons and support for 52 key commands, the OpenOfficeMouse (OOMouse) comes with an analog Xbox 360-style joystick with optional 4, 8, and 16-key command modes, a clickable scroll wheel, 512K of onboard flash memory, 63 on-mouse application profiles, support for 1024-character macros, and other tricks.
And yes folks, the designers also had gaming in mind when developing the OOMouse.
"In games like World of Warcraft -- even without taking the joystick into account -- you've got 16 commands within one click, 40 within two, and all 72 icons on the six action pages within just two double-clicks or less," Beale added.
Image Credit: WarDrive/OpenOffice via TGDaily
Steve Jobs would plotz
Submitted by charcaroth on Wed, 11/11/2009 - 4:25pm
Somebody send one of these things to Steve Jobs and make him use it for a week. I'd like to see the veins stand out on his forehead when he tries to use a mouse with more than one button. ;-)
Submitted by mesiah on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 9:28pm
Having all of those buttons in place of the normal mouse buttons is rediculous, however, the idea of placing an analog thumb stick on a mouse is pure genius. Maybe its been dont before, but I would kill for a mouse that included an analog stick.
How about..
Submitted by JohnP on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 9:03pm
Gluing a gaming pad on the top of a mouse? About the same... And how in hell do you figure out what button you are really pushing? Then there is the "move the hand up to reach the button while accidentially moving the mouse off of what you were trying to click on". Rubbish bin.
Submitted by Member2600 on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 5:49pm
This reminds me of an old simpons episode where Homer meets his half brother... thus
the quote that comes to mind is "how much does this monstrosity cost?"
Submitted by MRrelabled on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 4:47pm
wow ... this has gave me an idea, I'm just gonna glue my mouse under my keyboard
Submitted by powerman123 on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 4:27pm
it needs more buttons
Submitted by Walnut on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 1:35pm
My problem with this is not that it has so many buttons (because the more buttons the better), but that it looks like the least comfortable mouse ever. I mean, I understand what they're going for and I personally think it would be pretty handy, but there's no way I could use that thing for more than ten minutes before throwing it away and going back to my more ergonomic model.
Submitted by Trooper_One on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 12:19pm
My gosh, there's more button than a pop machine! How are the USA kids going to remember all these buttons, let alone able to master them all for Starcraft! Like another poster mentioned, we'll never beat the Koreans!
Makes no sense.
Submitted by dj-anon on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 10:55am
Makes no sense.
needs more
Submitted by nekollx on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 9:57am
needs more buttons
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Submitted by Kalabajooie on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 9:38am
Fools... you've doomed us all!
Now we'll NEVER be able to beat the Koreans in StarCraft!
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