The concept mouse that Faber examined was “a little heavier” than the typical mouse. But what drives its longevity potential for Logitech is the idea of constantly updated software and services.
What software or service updates does a mouse even need?
Like, the crazier mice have software, but it doesn’t really need updated. It’s just for fine tuning DPI and turning off the flashy lights.
Yep, fun fact: The basic mouse functionality is built into Windows, Linux, presumably macOS, and I believe even Android. Mouses all do similar enough of a thing and have been doing so for long enough, that we just ship a driver in OSs to take care of the core functionality.
The only real software “innovation” happens in offering profiles, LED patterns and whatnot.
I have a microsoft trackball, black body red ball thumb driven, was $35 us/$99 cdn and I bought the first of 2 in 2000 it has not been supported for a long time. I saved the drivers to a usb and am still using the combined trackball today. The 1st tracball had 1 board die in it, bought the second the other board died in that one so I combined the 2 working boards and it still goes strong.
Button mapping is also in software for programmable buttons. Otherwise even my G52 Hero doesn’t actually need the software. The beauty and whole point of USB peripherals is plug-n-play so there’s absolutely no point to a subscription service… well, nothing short of a dystopian future where the “lifetime” mouse is “lifetime” because the switches are so terrible they only last a month before needing to send it in for replacements, justified by each switch having a programmable micro-processor that needs to be flashed with proprietary software at replacement, effectively over-powering right-to-repair in the same swoop. At that point, it’s not worth using a computer. I’d learn to carve on stone tablets before accepting that BS.
There’s no big reason why remapping couldn’t be done in a way that doesn’t require actively running software on the host machine. QMK, the open source firmware for keyboards has had this for years. You can update your keymap with an online editor, but once it’s flashed, your mappings will be remembered regardless of which computer/phone/whatever you use the keyboard with - without having to run any software besides the OS on the host.
Very accurate and I don’t disagree. I want to be clear my comment was only as a partial correction for the last sentence of the original comment and am in no way advocating for programmable buttons to stay this way. The argument is the status quo is simplicity (you know, except for all of the times the software is so bad that it basically doesn’t work either because of bad UI or terrible programming) despite the fact the true reasoning is likely creating false brand loyalty and likely some means of selling user data. Personally, I’d like to see the availability of choice between proprietary and FOSS, even if it’s only to force the big wigs to develop better software since the bar is currently on the ground on a good day.
I mainly wonder how they are going to solve a broken microswitch with a software update…
When you pay them as long as you use the mouse, they have a business reason to keep it working as long as possible (so to use batter switches) and sending you a new one when one breaks can still be profitable for them. Software updates are less important here.
I guess for end users it will still be cheaper and more convenient to buy a new regular mouse with a one-time payment after the previous one breaks. And that is how electro-trash piles up…
