[Markarian421]

I'm thinking about getting the Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 (Microsoft sure knows how to name their products) -- this is basically a wireless ergonomic mouse. My question os, do you have to install the Microsoft mouse software (whatever they call it) to use this mouse, or will it work with OS X out of the box? I ask because I really dislike the Microsoft mouse drivers, it make me feel like aliens (or Windows) has taken over my mouse, it just doesn't move right.

Thanks.

-- Brian

[OreoCookie]

The basic functions (three buttons, scroll wheel) should work right away. However, Windows mice have tons of additional buttons, and OS X can't use those unless you install the proper drivers.

[Markarian421]

In general I only use the extra buttons for stuff like expose and dashboard, so for any random PC mouse that's not a problem (I'm using an 8 button logitech mouse at the moment). I was just wondering whether or not the wireless transmitter (not bluetooth) would work out of the box without installing anything additional. I've also seen a couple reviews on the web that seem to suggest that maybe the middle button is not a middle button at the hardware level and has to be reassigned to that in software . . . surely they would not be crazy enough to do that???

[Markarian421]

Well, I decided to just go get one, because my wrist has been killing me. It does work without installing Intellipoint. Tracking is a little weird (like there's acceleration built in to the mouse or something) and even at the fastest setting the scrolling seems very slow. But it basically works. I'll see if I can get used to it, every time I've installed Intellipoint in the past I've ended up regretting it.

[all2ofme]

Most mice feel a bit odd when you first use them, I think. Especially if you swap between OS X and Windows regularly.

My Logitech MX Revolution is lovely, but it took me a long time to get used to it. I'm still not used to how quickly it loses a charge, though

Let us know how you get on in the next while, though - that mouse looks nice to me. Might get one if I start hearing good things...

[Markarian421]

I switch between Windows, Linux (although less these days), and OS X on a regular basis; Windows (at work) and OS X (at home and occasionally work) on a daily basis. In Windows in general all mice feel strange, their drivers are just messed up. There have been a couple studies by a group about what they term "interface friction" of various OSs, basically how much does the OS get in the way of letting you do stuff, and they have consistently found that cursor movement is less accurate in Windows than OS X. (And it's worse in Vista than in XP.) Anyway . . .

After a day with this mouse I'm pretty much used to it, it's not perfect but it's a keeper. But I've used an Evoluent VerticalMouse 2 a lot, so this mouse might be less strange to me than most people. My wrists start to hurt a lot sometimes and when they do standard flat mice just make it worse, so I have to use an ergonomic mouse. The Evoluent VM2 works for making my wrist stop hurting but it's otherwise a terrible mouse, not so much in terms of design but in terms of components and build quality (they have a new model now that claims to address a lot of those problems though). After a day with the MS mouse (and a lot of time doing detailed work in photoshop) my wrist also stopped hurting, so the MS mouse also does the trick.

So far the remaining annoyances are: (1) the mouse wheel is very slow to the point that I just use the scroll bar instead, and somewhat unpredictable. (Side scrolling is so slow as to be useless.) The wheel turns freely so you can't tell how far it has gone, so for anything where you need precision from the scroll wheel (I'm thinking any game that uses it) you can't use this mouse. It does occasionally jump at the same time you click the mouse wheel button (so that you click on the wrong menu item for instance) but only rarely. The VM2 does that constantly, the MS mouse is much better. Oh, and like lots of MS mice, the mouse wheel takes an excessive amount of force to click compared to all the other buttons, which just can't be ergonomic. (2) I've mostly gotten used to the tracking but it's still a bit strange. It's like there's hardware level acceleration or something. I can't draw a straight line with this mouse, it doesn't seem very accurate compared to the average Logitech USB mouse (what I normally use).. (3) It seems a bit laggy, like it takes the OS a moment to notice it has started moving. I'm starting to get used to it, but its not a feature. (4) Possibly related to much of the above, either this mouse is really susceptible to interference or it's just crazy, every once in a while the cursor jumps to some far corner of the screen (usually the top). The receiver is less than 1 foot from the mouse. Again this is rare but I'm wondering if it's related to some of the other problems.

Interestingly, unlike the VM2 I don't find myself backhanding the MS mouse off the desk by accident. I send the VM2 flying all the time.

Overall as an anti-carpal tunnel mouse, I mostly like this one much better than the VM2, it's a very usable ergonomic mouse. If they gave it a real mouse wheel that would help a lot. As far as a mouse in general I still prefer even a low end Logitech USB mouse or one of the 500 series "gaming" mice, but unlike the VM2 this mouse doesn't give me the constant urge to switch back every 5 minutes. The VM2 is unusable in photoshop, this mouse is ok, so it will probably stay until I decide to play some game.