Microsoft surface arc mouse vs. Country mouse Vs. City mouse
This blog records how this product is a disappointment — stop here if you just wanted a confirmation on that, or read on for the exciting journey towards that same conclusion.
They are indeed very pretty.
And thin.
Mistaking one for a lady on high heels singing ‘de rien’ would be a common and welcome mistake.
Or a spartan warrior with a six pack — endless bending and unbending hearing that complex mechanical click every time it does a ‘crunch’.
Those are definitely the first impressions with this beautiful concept of a business mouse.
I have had the old iteration (2 of them) for over ten years now. One of them finally started missing on the targeted clicks and I retired it with a befitting farewell. The other one is going long and strong.
When my colleague recently appreciated my humble piece of tech, I thought it might make a good gift for her. While getting one, I thought why not stick with the tradition and get two — An additional great romantic gesture for my wife — Do not try at home.
Of course if you have read one of my earlier pieces, buying new tech for the lovely wife is a way to check it out yourself. Two birds with one . . . sort of thing.
The unboxing was just a thousand dollars shy of dragging out the new iPhone. Nicely packaged.
Bluetooth connection (to Windows 10) went through like a breeze.
As a first I opened an excel sheet and randomly started clicking everywhere.
That is when the fun stopped
It was clearly missing the right clicks — What! (I’m a right hander for reference)
Tried it again and again. Unless I clicked the very edge on the right side, it would not register. Damn!
For mission critical spreadsheet action, that constitutes a suicide mission.
To verify that I was not insane and my mouse clicking habits were still human, I did not do what I used to do. Google you think? Its 2023 — we go chatgpt!
I forgot that chatgpt is sort of owned by Microsoft so while it used to give me good advice on everything from making a space ship to starting my own Tesla company, this time it came up with the usual rubbish of updating drivers and contacting Msft.
blah!
Back to good old trusty google.
Which took me to a reddit channel where some poor soul was complaining the same issue 2 years ago.
This time there were real answers.
And they blew my mind. Why would these guys be idiots and innovate their creation to such beauty and then ending up screwing its brains.
The mouse cannot register right click unless the index finger (which is on or hovers over the left click side) is taken up high away from the sensor pad.
Why?
No one knows — my best best is the guy who was making the final touches was in a bad mood over Tesla lowering prices the week after he bought one or apple introducing M1 for the iPad Air a month after he bought one with A14.
The verdict, you ask, is to return them for a full refund.
The whole idea is about UX and if you have to calculate lifting your finger the number of centimeters before right clicking on a selection of a million rows and which accidentally makes a left click and you have to start all over again — then — this is not the real slim shady.
We await the next one and hopefully someone from Microsoft would have read this by then.
