Okay, twice now I've tried to love Microsoft's latest mouse, the Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer. My old tried-and-true Microsoft mouse is no longer working properly, so I need a new mouse. Unfortunately, I simply can't bring myself to use the Microsoft mouse, and find myself preferring the chintzy Logitech mouse that I'm using as a stopgap. Why, you ask? Well:

• The scroll wheel moves smoothly instead of at intervals. This takes some getting used to, but the worst part is that, if you even brush the wheel with your finger, you'll find that you've scrolled your window a little bit.
• The scroll wheel is nearly impossible to click. I like using the scroll wheel as a third mouse button, but this mouse makes that almost impossible. Even if I did have the finger strength to get the wheel clicked, the previous problem strikes – it is truly impossible to click the scroll wheel without doing a bit of scrolling at the same time! Not good for middle-clicking links on a Web page, that's for sure.
• The horizontal scrolling aspect of the scroll wheel is pure hype, at least for now. It's hard to do, it scrolls unbearably slowly, when it works, and configuration doesn't seem to help a bit. And, again, any operation near the scroll wheel is going to cause some vertical scrolling whether you like it or not.
• The orientation is terrible, at least the way I hold a mouse. When I move this cheap Logitech mouse from side-to-side, the mouse cursor stays on a pretty even horizontal. When I do the same with the Microsoft mouse, I can't keep the mouse cursor on a horizontal line to save my life. I suppose after a few weeks I could teach myself to contort my wrist such that it would work, but considering I don't have any trouble with any other mouse I've found, I don't think the problem is me.
• The mouse buttons on the side are very difficult to press with my thumb; I have to contort my hand unnaturally to hit either of them.
• Also, the mouse buttons on the side are too small. How I miss my original IntelliMouse Optical, with its nice, big side buttons...
• Last, but certainly not least, the new mouse only works with IntelliMouse 5.0 driver software, which is significantly inferior to the previous version, IntelliMouse 4.12. Specifically:
  • You can no longer change the orientation. This would help solve the orientation problem, but it can't be done!
  • There are fewer options for button assignment. Specifically, I like to assign the little side button to the Ctrl key; I guess Microsoft decided I didn't need that feature any more.

Don't even get me started on the new Microsoft keyboards. I'm just thankful that they still sell the Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite.