So if you miss a payment your mouse shuts off?
How is your standing policed, with an always online requirement? So if I move and need to wait to get my internet up, I can’t use my mouse?
Are they legally liable for lifetime support or are you signing away that right in the EULA and they can end support for your “lifetime” mouse on a whim?
I’d rather rent my furniture than subscribe to a mouse, but both practices are exploiting this world’s rampant financial illiteracy.
They could probably do that in windows by adding some service that checks if the mouse is valid… Since on windows it’s using Logitech drivers.
On Linux it’s open source so no way they can do anything.
Nah, you just have the mouse do a cryptographic handshake with the driver software and tie it to a server-side validation check, and thus if there’s no handshake and validation, there’s no working mouse.
Easy!
(Please don’t read this Logitech.)
Are they legally liable for lifetime support or are you signing away that right in the EULA and they can end support for your “lifetime” mouse on a whim?
What do you think? After they’ve sold all of them they’ll release Lifetime Mouse 2.0, and cancel all the support for these, bricking your mouse.
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.
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…
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.
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 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.
Dumbest shit I’ve heard this week.
Switches that last forever would be interesting. Subscription models and sw updates for a mouse are the very opposite of interesting. I’d pay not to have either.
There are industrial switches that last practically forever. I’ve made some test robots for wearing out limit switches and the decent ones could be hammered constantly for days on end without a single miss.
Another component that doesn’t wear out is a photo gate. It doesn’t click or spring, though.
Actually just a decent keyboard switch would probably put up with a lot.
But it’s cheaper to go cheap and you get more repeat business.
What’s the point of a mouse that lasts forever if your purchase doesn’t?
I have a (mostly) forever mouse already. It has high quality Omron switches rated for millions of clicks, an Aliexpress page bookmarked as well as a soldering iron for when they need replacing. Anything that is “forever” only needs good quality components and the ability to repair whatever may go wrong. Any company that claims to sell something that either will not break or wear out is one to avoid. A good example I can think of is BMW who no longer put drain plugs on their transmissions for fluid replacement, their reasoning: “The fluid is for lifetime usage.” while the small print states the “lifetime” is roughly 120k miles. Similar story with their “lifetime” timing chains too, except those weren’t even lasting the small print mileage. Didn’t stop them trying to sell customers the whole replacement engine too.
Source: God, don’t make me replace another BMW transmission. I’m tired.
You can get rugged or smooth.
Lots of expensive brands prioritize smooth because their buyers will buy often and not care about resale or cost of new.
A Toyota Hilux and a Range Rover aren’t really made with the same priorities, even though both could go offroading.
Someone that buys a brand new off the lot beamer likely isn’t planning to still own it 120,000 miles later. Probably not even three years later.
Doesn’t mean we should open a revolving door to the scrap heap. Also this perception of pick one is extremely false. It’s more than possible to have a perfectly smooth transmission than can be maintained. Fill and drain plugs don’t effect any of the internals so it’s little more than self-sabotage (see: planned obsolence) to make it impossible to perform basic maintenance. Besides, no trans is going to remain smooth if the fluid isn’t replaced frequently.
If we were only talking about a transmission sure
I don’t how anyone would think that’s what I meant. But here you are.
What mouse if you don’t mind sharing?
My Logitech G602 technically has high quality Omron switches but only on left/right click, the middle click and the rest use crappy little tactile switches that last about 6 months before I need to replace them.
I’ve got a G502 Hero. I’d heard lots of complaints about the line after buying it but I haven’t had any issues despite having it for a good few years now. I also had a M305 for something like a decade. A very simple little thing but lasted a long time. I replaced the switches for higher grade switches than factory and only replaced it because the rocker mounting for the mouse wheel tilt snapped, which I’m pretty certain was caused by a house move than any lack of quality.
