RSSMicrosoft Opens Up Hardware Tech
By Ed Oswald | Published March 29, 2006, 1:30 PM
Microsoft said Wednesday it would license several of its hardware technologies to third-party manufacturers, as part of a broader effort to open up the company's innovations to others. Microsoft's U2, tilt wheel and magnifier technologies would be offered as part of the program.
U2 technology was developed by Microsoft to allow a peripheral device to automatically detect whether it needs a USB or PS2 port in order to operate. The tilt wheel enables the component to be tilted from side to side and up and down to move the cursor, and the magnifier allows a user to easily magnify data on the screen.
"Most people think of Microsoft as solely a software company, but we've been a leading hardware innovator and supplier to the desktop peripherals industry for over 20 years," Entertainment and Devices vice president Robbie Bach said.
"The hardware licensing initiative is a first for Microsoft, and we're excited to make our innovations broadly available to others in the industry through licensing."
The announcement furthers a commitment first made by Microsoft in December 2003 to make its intellectual property more broadly available to its partners. The company has already identified several licensees, including Targus, Fellowes, Acrox, and KYE Systems.
"As the leading global supplier of notebook cases and accessories, we're pleased to take advantage of this licensing program for input product technologies," Targus marketing director Michael Greco said.
Actually i have to say, the tracking on this new MS Comfort Mouse 3000 is amazing (better then my logitech MX500 which now has a case of the jitters). I just hope the left click button holds up better then my old MS Optical. (after a while it freaked and would double click on single clicks) But hey for 19.99 at Target this is the mouse to get for someone like me who beats the hell out of mice.
EDIT: oh yeah and i hate the tiltwheel thing too, the magnifier button is cool cause i just map it to a different function :)
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|Oh and the tilt wheel is a dead tech. Does anybody use this thing? I understand the ramifications of using it, but the actual execution is difficult. While you scroll the wheel to the side often you slightly move the mouse up or down, negating the accuracy gained.
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|I often use it for scrolling in documents that I've had to magnify, but that's about it.
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|Magnifier! Amazing. You click on, a button, and a magnifying glass comes up. Ingenuous! Amazing. Innovation here, folks, and MS is allowing others to PAY THEM for the ability to discover this capability!
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|You would prefer to click Start > Programs > Accessories > Accessibility Tools > Magnifier?
Seems like a no-brainer to me on what's easier to use... and this is definitely functionality I use a lot when magnifying images and pixel-sized markup in documents and web pages that I work on.
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|I guess you're not familiar with the "pin to Start menu" option. Oh, did you know they have a thing called "Quick launch" too?
Only time I've ever seen a point in using the magnifier is when I was trying to use the PC on a standard TV. 525 interpolated lines doesn't make reading 10-point font particularly easy.
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|The one I use the most is that "Shortcut Key:" option under Shortcut Properties. Ctrl+Alt+I for maximized IE window is the one I use the most...Ctrl+Alt+s***+E for Star Wars Empire At War is another good one :)
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|if they open up windows code anyway it would be pure choas. think of it you know programmers would make drastic changes to windows so it would leave some hardware drivers and software incompatible. In my view it would be better for it to remain closed
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|so what exactly is "choas" ???
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|Mozilla: "Open-source software beats any commercial software."
Microsoft: "Why not test the theory by making open-source hardware?"
FYI this isn't what Microsoft or Mozilla Corp. actually did. My point is that Microsoft isn't as far as we may believe from possibly opening Windows code to the public. If nothing else, it would destroy the competition's main arguments that they have made against Microsoft for the past decade or so.
Just think about it...
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|Just like in my bedroom, I prefer to keep my Windows closed, thank you very much... I've never been a fan of having too many cooks in the kitchen, and I like the interoperability that exists between Windows applications.
Linux and Unix are great for a lot of purposes, but when it comes time for me to get desktop productivity stuff done, I want my Windows system, and I want to know that when I send files out they are going to just work without having to worry if the recipient is using umpteen versions of whatever.
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