Microsoft Trackball Explorer The Worlds Most Comfortable Trackball. And, of course, its no longer available. This device is just one of the many items whose demand appears strong regardless of the fact that their manufacturers have inexplicably decided to discontinue making them. A quick search on e. Bay produces a handful of Trackball Explorers, each fetching at least 1. Thats pretty good for a device that one could pick up from a local computer retailer, or from the web for 3. Today the mainstream trackball alternatives include Logitech and Kensington models plus some more industrial, or 8. ITAC and Evergreen Systems. None of the currently available models come anywhere close to the ergonomy of Microsofts Trackball Explorer, and this sentiment is echoed on countless hardware review forums on the web. Was the demand really so minimal for the trackballs that it wasnt worth it for Microsoft to continue manufacturing it Perhaps the sales werent as strong as theyre supposed to be for this kind of a deviceperhaps when compared to the sales figures of mouses. But my guess is there are quite a few people out there who would be more than happy to pay, say, 6. MS Trackball Explorer beat hands down. Today Microsoft offers just mouses for pointing devices but a mouse wont always do. Oftentimes the available desk space is limited there is no space to move the mouse around whereas, of course, a trackball is stationary. And more importantlyespecially when using 3. D or CAD applicationsmouse is less accurate. When youve placed the cursor on the exact pixel you want it to be on, with trackball you can then remove your finger from the ball before releasing the button to get a positively accurate placement. With a mouse the action of releasing the depressed button moves the mouse enough so that the cursor is moved a pixel or two before the drop action occurs. I have written Microsoft a few times regarding this issue, and its likely few other people have done so, too. There has never been a response, probably because their trackballs are gone, period. If Microsoft is not going to bring it back, it would be a great business idea for someone to revive a truely ergonomic trackball there would be many users who would be glad to pay, say, the aforementioned 6. Pattern Explorer 4.5 Serial' title='Pattern Explorer 4.5 Serial' />Trackball Explorer 2. Update 2. 3 September 2. To get an update on TBE I contacted Edelman Seattle yesterday. The original contact, Kerry Gentes, was no longer with the company and I spoke with Brittany Turner instead. According to her Microsofts stance on the issue has not changed they are still not listening to what their customers want she didnt use those words exactly, but thats basically what it boils down to. Microsoft is also not willing to license the device at this time. This puzzles me.   Microsoft bases their decision not to continue manufacturing and marketing the device on a strategic decision to concentrate on mouse devices because the market share trackballs hold is insignificant. Im sure the sales figures for mouses are greater than for trackballs, but its the same situation between any consumer and pro product. Most people who go to buy a computer at Frys or Best Buy automatically buy a mouse as the computer comes with one. In many cases its a Microsoft mouse, so naturally Microsoft sells a lot of them. However, unlike many other devices, there is no viable alternative for the Trackball Explorer, and the strategic decision to not sell them makes a significant number of users rather unhappy. If you go to a computer or office supply store they may carry a Logitech or Kensington model or two whose ergonomics simply have nothing on the TBE. Ty Dolla Ign Beach House Ep more. Microsoft could easily hold that shelf space instead simply by resuming the manufacture of the already existing product which even has up to date drivers Vista compatible, etc. If Microsoft doesnt feel like investing more R D funds to the TBE at this point, they could use the exact same design as TBE 1. They might change its colors slightly to match the current product line and slap on a price tag equivalent to that of Kensington Expert Mouse 9. It would still sell fairly strongly even if the price tag was 1. Bay have fetched 4. Surely the sales figures would not reach those of mouses, but then Microsoft also sells many more of the consumer licenses than professional licenses to its operating systems for the same exact reason most computers sold come readily with Windows Vista Home installed. Yet lower sales figures for the Pro versions of the operating system products, for example, dont result in pulling a product from the market. Microsofts unreachability and inertness regarding this issue is very frustrating. Youd have to look hard for a product that so many users feel so strongly about just read the comments in this blog for a small sampling of TBE users who have searched the web, come across this blog, and decided to post If Microsoft discontinued a particular mouse, nobody would think twice of it theyd just pick up a newer or, perhaps, a competitors model. Same goes for most anything I can think of therere always alternatives. In most cases a new, improved versions of the older products are made available by the same manufacturer. Unfortunately the situation with the TBE serves to illustrate the way Microsoft is going business decisions are made internally without paying too much or any attention to the customer feedback. This, also, is why the agile younger companies like Google are gradually eating away Microsofts market share in many areas of business. When the time comes to make a choice between a Microsoft product that does have competitive alternatives and most do users who were shorted by Microsoft previously are more likely to choose a competitors product, especially if the competitor appears more responsive to customer feedback. Microsoft Trackball Explorer. Engineers rely on an oscilloscope throughout their design cycle, from prototype turnon to production testing. The MSODPO70000 Series oscilloscopes unique. The Author David Serpell lives and writes in Suffolk, though his interests take him all over the British Isles. In addition to being keen collectors of Carlton Ware. Responses to Building An Active RFID People Asset Tracking System With Mesh Networking RFID tracking system Hack a Day Says February 21st, 2010 at 12. The Vintage Rolex Case Number Project. Rolex serial or case numbers have long been a source of frustration, amazement and amusement to collectors trying to determine. Absolute-Video-to-Audio-Converter_3.png' alt='Pattern Explorer 4.5 Serial' title='Pattern Explorer 4.5 Serial' />The Repository pattern is a popular way to achieve separation between the physical database, queries and other data access logic from the rest of an application.