Microsoft's Touch Mouse Updated for Windows 8

[heatlesssun]

Still a terrible piece of hardware.

What specifically do you not like about this mouse as it relates to Windows 8, not Windows 7. Having used it with both this new driver does seem to work better with 8 than the drivers did in 7. It's certainly not a gaming mouse, it could use more gestures but the scrolling momentum with a lot of the applications I use, the zoom is great for things that are semantic zoom aware and the app switcher are Charm Bar are faster than the hot corners.

 

[DrDoug]

I think that its common to use a the phrase "tens of hundreds" as a range, not a multiplier, at least colloquially..

Not in the English language I grew up with. A hundred is a hundred and tens of hundreds is thousands. Scale up from that. You keep tossing out 500 million, right? That's five of hundreds of millions, not even close to tens of hundreds of millions.

That is unless you are rounding up?

In any case I've made the statement before and...

nobody called you on it yet because there is so much more to argue with you about!

 

[heatlesssun]

nobody called you on it yet because there is so much more to argue with you about!

You win. The thread was supposed to be about a specific mouse with specific drivers on Windows 8 anyway. I'd much rather be called on the technical aspects of the topic at hand than to get into yet another general "Windows 8 Sucks" discussion.

 

[SkribbelKat]

You win. The thread was supposed to be about a specific mouse with specific drivers on Windows 8 anyway. I'd much rather be called on the technical aspects of the topic at hand than to get into yet another general "Windows 8 Sucks" discussion.

You tend to drag yourself into those discussions by posting in response to people over and over again until you get the negative attention you desire so you have someone ot argue with about it. Now that you have what you want and are getting walked all over, I suppose it's time to run off and hide behind the "Let's get back on topic excuse." If you really didn't want to have these discussions, you'd figure out how to turn your computer off and then go outside to do something more interesting. You crave the attention and it's one of the few things that give you purpose.

 

[DrDoug]

You win. The thread was supposed to be about a specific mouse with specific drivers on Windows 8 anyway. I'd much rather be called on the technical aspects of the topic at hand than to get into yet another general "Windows 8 Sucks" discussion.

Naah.. when it comes to Windows 8, nobody wins.

In my leisure I'm a gamer and a touch mouse isn't something my desktop needs. Neither does my work or casual use. Microsoft can improve their software for their touch mouse as much as they want but nothing will change that until something better comes along.

This is not it.

 

[heatlesssun]

Now that you have what you want and are getting walked all over, I suppose it's time to run off and hide behind the "Let's get back on topic excuse."

No one is walking over me because no one who has posted here has used this mouse with the drivers in question with Windows 8 and discussed how it works.

 

[heatlesssun]

Naah.. when it comes to Windows 8, nobody wins.

In my leisure I'm a gamer and a touch mouse isn't something my desktop needs. Neither does my work or casual use. Microsoft can improve their software for their touch mouse as much as they want but nothing will change that until something better comes along.

This is not it.

For someone that was into wordsmithing me its rather strange to talk in such hyperbolic terms. Yes, NO ONE wins with Windows 8! Except that we get new hardware, much improved touch, devices that can effectively double as laptops/desktops and tablets that are lighter and with better battery life than we've ever had on Windows.

Plus it's not like one can't use whatever mouse they want with Windows 8. Hell, I use three on my Windows 8 desktop, and I can switch between them for the task at hand. As I said, the touch mouse isn't for real PC gaming. But the momentum and scrolling on this thing works well will a number of apps that I use, it's great in IE 10.

 

[DeathPrincess]

Huh? The scroll wheel on a conventional mouse is curved. The scroll area on the Touch Mouse slopes down like a lot scroll wheels on mice.
Not really sure that the point is here.

Why would movement of scroll wheel be anymore or less constant than dragging a finger. Plus the senor on the Touch Mouse is just the same touch input that a touch screen would offer and while the touch senor on the Touch Mouse isn't as accurate as the average touch screen it's more so than a conventional mechanical scroll wheel.

Thats not what curved acceleration is at all. A mouse without acceleration, is position = position, a touchpad with acceleration is position = distance moved x time taken. You can guess roughly where you'll end up, but you won't know exactly, nor will you know very well where you are along the curve. Google it or something for a better explanation.

Damnit stop typing on touchpads!

Ok, fine. You offer no proof of this truth and have no idea how millions of people would react to gestures versus buttons or the fact that flipping and zooming are pretty natural things for people these days to do as they have been taught these things on tablets and phones.

You don't understand the meaning of natural or are misusing it. You either mean some innate knowledge that all humans have, like breathing, which wouldn't apply, or something which is easy to learn or do, which would apply to either. Or something which is learned behavior they are used to, which more applies to mice than silly touchpads, as more people use those on a desktop system and have done since forever.

It will be installed on tens of hundreds of millions of PCs in its lifetime. If that's what you call insignificant then I'd love to know that you consider significant.

Stop getting so emotionally attached to a service pack. Unless this is all because of some financial tie to this thing it is slightly strange. It is insignificant because it's just some Windows iteration, not some new concept or anything groundbreaking in a positive way. It's not the cure for cancer, it's just a minor update.

You've not used the mouse or drivers in question, so that's about as null and void as there is.

So which is it exactly? I thought this was a "natural" device that made everything all super easy and the average person could pick up in seconds? But now there's some giant barrier to entry that makes it all expertly with all these crazy nuances that make it impossible to get. Either you just made it out to be the worst piece of shit ever invented, or you are just being purposefully weird? It's just a multitouch trackpad (which I've used), with Windows 8 (which Ive used)...theres nothing special about this toy.

Anyway, you should read what you wrote, also what I actually wrote, then think about it what it means to your point.

 

[DeathPrincess]

You must have though windows 1.0 had such a badly deigned UI it needed a mouse instead of just a keyboard just to navigate things, so bad. Probably still using your MS-DOS

1/10 troll.

It's "designed".

Theres two types of tech. Tech that makes real progress, like ultrasound and lasers, and then stupid shit that just repackages and resells the same old shit as new to gullible people. I'm probably younger than you, never used DOS outside of DOSBOX, yet I can think for myself and see when something doesn't serve my purposes, or improve things.

 

[DrDoug]

For someone that was into wordsmithing me its rather strange to talk in such hyperbolic terms. Yes, NO ONE wins with Windows 8! Except that we get new hardware, much improved touch, devices that can effectively double as laptops/desktops and tablets that are lighter and with better battery life than we've ever had on Windows.

God you are making me laugh! Really, you're just killing me! Please don't top this off with your version of a Windows 8 joke because I think I'll stroke out laughing!

 

[heatlesssun]

Thats not what curved acceleration is at all. A mouse without acceleration, is position = position, a touchpad with acceleration is position = distance moved x time taken. You can guess roughly where you'll end up, but you won't know exactly, nor will you know very well where you are along the curve. Google it or something for a better explanation.

All I know is that the scrolling on this thing with the new drivers is pretty damned good in IE, Office and even Visual Studio. It wasn't like that before the new drivers.

Damnit stop typing on touchpads!

I'm on my keyboard and mouse Windows 8 desktop and doing two other things so just rushed typing.

You don't understand the meaning of natural or are misusing it. You either mean some innate knowledge that all humans have, like breathing, which wouldn't apply, or something which is easy to learn or do, which would apply to either. Or something which is learned behavior they are used to, which more applies to mice than silly touchpads, as more people use those on a desktop system and have done since forever.

Call it natural, intuitive, common convention, with all of the touch devices that people are using these days let's just say that it well understood, as natural as the Start Menu and Button for example.

Stop getting so emotionally attached to a service pack. Unless this is all because of some financial tie to this thing it is slightly strange. It is insignificant because it's just some Windows iteration, not some new concept or anything groundbreaking in a positive way. It's not the cure for cancer, it's just a minor update.

It is significant in that it is a different approach to what in total any single computing device can do. Really, with all of the "Windows 8 Hate" posts that you make, you're far more emotionally attached to it than I am. Again, I actually use the mouse and drivers in question on Windows 8. I more than emotionalism and supposed scientific evidence explaining who this mouse works, what works well like the scrolling in my major apps and the app switching, and what doesn't work well like PC gaming.

 

[heatlesssun]

God you are making me laugh! Really, you're just killing me! Please don't top this off with your version of a Windows 8 joke because I think I'll stroke out laughing!

Well I laugh when people say things like "No one will benefit!" when it's even clear now that at least some people like it already and see benefit.

 

[BBA]

I almost bought one of those mouses for the wife, I am sure she would love it.

This thread should be closed. There is no reason for so much bashing to be going on. If the new drivers make a difference that people like (people who have the devices) then why is everyone else who doesn't own the device bitching? It really looks like a personal attack on heatlesssun, who, in this thread at least, is only offering his personal experience relevent to the article. That being said, almost not other posters in the thread are doing anything but trolling.

 

[SkribbelKat]

No one is walking over me because no one who has posted here has used this mouse with the drivers in question with Windows 8 and discussed how it works.

There you go again with this braggart, holier than thou obsession with writing off everyone else's opinion if they seemingly disagree with yours.

 

[almalino]

I bought MS touch mouse 2 days ago because it was discounted from 80 to 40 Euros. It is kind of fun mouse but under Windows 7 it has one HUGE problem. Right click works ONLY if you rise your left finger

Terrible. I returned it.

 

[heatlesssun]

There you go again with this braggart, holier than thou obsession with writing off everyone else's opinion if they seemingly disagree with yours.

To summarize what I have seen:

• Overall touch responsiveness is improved substantially compared to Windows 7 and earlier versions of the driver for Windows 8.
  
  
• Scrolling is the biggest area of improvement that I've noticed in most applications that I use. Some desktop and even Modern UI can be too sensitive. The momentum feature works well where scrolling works well but again it can be too sensitive with certain programs and apps. But in IE 10, Word, Excel, Outlook, the Metro email app and Visual Studio 2012 this mouse is working well for me and I think for now it will be my main Windows 8 mouse on the desktop with the exception of games.
  
  
• The app switcher and Charms Bar gestures work well. It would be nice to have a gesture that simulated Alt-Tab and/or for the app bar to appear and to be able to pull and snap Metro apps similar to a tablet.
  
  
• This is NOT a mouse for gaming PC gaming.
  
• Overall I don't think this mouse is something that most people would want to invest in unless they like the idea of touch, it's not that big of a deal. As it is an ambidextrous mouse, the ergonomics aren't what I would want normally. Logitech has said they are coming out with a Windows 8 touch mouse and I would imagine that Microsoft will have a new version of this mouse in time as well.

So if you want to call this bragging be my guest. Most would call it actually having something meaningful to say from use of the product and staying on the topic of the thread. As Windows 8 hardware starts coming out more and more who are trying to get up to speed with Windows 8 and actually talk about specific subjects are not going to appreciate a lot of random noise from people who aren't using it. There's plenty of places to do the general Windows 8 bashing besides specific topic threads.

And further more, all of the nonsense about me promoting Windows 8 is utter garbage. I just said not to buy this mouse. But I didn't do it based on half-assed BS but from actual use of the device and from practical experience. Say what you will, but first hand practical experience of a product is much more useful to people than random and uninformed opinions.

 

[wonderfield]

There you go again with this braggart, holier than thou obsession with writing off everyone else's opinion if they seemingly disagree with yours.

As if using the mouse will Windows 8 will somehow increase its absolutely disgusting wireless range. Perhaps Windows 8 is just that magical.

 

[heatlesssun]

As if using the mouse will Windows 8 will somehow increase its absolutely disgusting wireless range. Perhaps Windows 8 is just that magical.

Not sure what your issue was, I've used this mouse across my living before, around 10' away from the receiver and it worked fine, this was under Windows 7 however.

 

[rflcptr]

As if using the mouse will Windows 8 will somehow increase its absolutely disgusting wireless range. Perhaps Windows 8 is just that magical.

Not sure what your issue was, I've used this mouse across my living before, around 10' away from the receiver and it worked fine, this was under Windows 7 however.

After deep analysis, it seems his issue was with the wireless range under Windows 8.

 

[wonderfield]

*Windows 7

Suffice it to say that I gave the mouse a perfectly fair shake. I won't be rolling the dice on it again to see whether they've improved the situation for Windows 8. Its three-star rating on Amazon is something I consider to be 'generous'.

 

[Eman D. Rahym]

I know some on this forum like to thread crap, but it's not often you come across a thread that is almost entirely nothing but shit with the few sensible posts in it looking like kernels of corn in the turd that the rectum of the [H]ardForum just shat out.