David Flynn13 September 2006, 6:27 AM
YOU cooked up eight versions of Vista dude? My division has a dozen mice! Bite me. Microsoft is about to take the wraps off its most prolific hardware range yet.
When Microsoft offered to fly me from Sydney to Seattle to look at some new hardware, I thought, "surely it would be cheaper to send the keyboards and mice to me, rather than me to them?"
Then I saw how many products they're launching. I think it might have been a simple air-freight cost calculation on their part!
Microsoft's plan for Vista world-domination appears to be tied to an armada of new keyboards, mice, webcams and headsets.
The tally so far stands at three keyboards, five mice (two for gamers), four webcams and two headsets.That's 14 devices in all, which will sit alongside Microsoft's existing keyboards and mice to make the company's hardware team perhaps its most prolific shipper of stuff. (You can almost hear the heated exchanges: "YOU cooked up eight versions of Vista dude? My division has a dozen mice! Bite me".)
The full range will be demoed and dissected in front of international media at Microsoft's 2006 Hardware Launch, being held over the next two days at Microsoft's sprawling campus in Redmond.
Here's what I've seen in advance of tomorrow's official launch:
All three keyboards -- the Wireless Laser Desktop 6000, Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 and Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 -- include dedicated buttons for launching a search using the new Windows Live search engine and starting a video call through Windows Live Messenger and your webcam (which, naturally enough, Microsoft hopes will be one of their new LifeCam models).
There's also a Gadgets key for quickly accessing Vista's inbuilt widgetry and an 'Instant Viewer' feature which delivers Expose-like functionality to Windows by arranging all open applications and documents on the desktop.
The up-market model 7000 and 8000 keyboards use bourgeois Bluetooth rather than the more proletariat RF wireless, boast 'capacitive' keys that sense when you're near (and reduce battery drain when you're not) and double as Media Centre keyboards, with a shortcut button to launch the MCE interface and a navigation pad to shunt the cursor around the screen.
The Windows key has been ditched from its conventional position next to the Alt key and relocated towards the bottom of the keyboard, centred under the space bar, in the form of a Vista-ish Windows 'orb' button under the space-bar.
The 8000 model tops out the list with an ambient backlit keyboard and battery charger.
Like their desktop cousins, the two 'productivity' mice use Bluetooth and support the Instant Viewer feature.
The one that'll enjoy the most covetous glances is the Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 which can drive PowerPoint displays with digital ink markups (think Peter Stirling drawing arrows on the TV screen to highlight holes in the Tigers' defending line), as well as doubling as a laser pointer and -- get this -- a full media centre controller on the rodent's underbelly. The controller is also compatible with iTunes.
Gaming mice include a reborn IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 and the perilously over-hyped Habu, a joint venture with gaming peripheral vendor Razer which Microsoft's wanna-be-cool promotions (www.notfornoobs.com) cringingly promised as being 'not for noobs'. Is it just us, or is that slogan noobish and oh-so-lame when compared to Logitech's stellar reputation among serious gamers?
Two of the four LifeCam Webcams (the VX3000 and VX6000) have already been released on the US market (www.microsoft.com/hardware/digitalcommunication) but will arrive in Australia alongside the budget-minded VX1000 and the lipstick-sized notebook NX6000 webcam.
All four models sport a Call button for initiating videochats though Windows Live Messenger and streamlined uploading of snaps to your Windows Live Spaces blog.
Rounding out the roster are two LifeChat VoIP headsets -- one wired, one RF wireless -- with, you guessed it, Windows Live call buttons and the seemingly omnipresent 'Optimised for Windows Live Messenger' sticker.
I'll report more detail on specific products tomorrow, once the official Hardware Launch gets underway, along with Australian pricing and availability.
If you've got any questions about these new devices, post a comment below and I will put them directly to the Microsoft hardware product managers and designers over the next two days and report back on their responses.