10-16-2002, 12:48 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse are Coming
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,105945,00.asp
It's finally been announced! The Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo will be hitting store shelves in November. The Bluetooth "hub" will have a range of 30 feet, and they keyboard and mouse combo will sell for $159. Not bad! The more advanced mouse will sell for $84.95, though without seeing any photos it's hard to tell what it will offer. I'm assuming that it will have buttons on the side like other advanced Microsoft mouse products. I find them so essential it's almost a shame to sell a mouse without them. :?
I'm looking forward to this product being released for one simple reason: I think it brings a legitimacy to Bluetooth that thus far it has lacked in the computing world. Microsoft is big enough to bring legitimacy to a standard (although Microsoft's involvement doesn't guarantee success by any means). I know that for many of you, Bluetooth works perfectly and you found it easy to set up. But for myself, and for many others based on what I've read, it wasn't so easy. Socket Bluetooth products are really well done, but not all drivers and wizards are created equally - I found Anycom's Bluetooth CF card to utterly be confusing. One of the things that Microsoft is good at is designing a solid user interface and making things easy to use. Some of you may not agree, but trust me, compared to what I've seen from some Bluetooth vendors, anything that Microsoft does will be light years beyond what we have now. Right now I don't use Bluetooth in any way, because I've been waiting for this exact event to occur - a major player like Microsoft to step in and make Bluetooth actually WORK for the average person. The concept and the spec may be solid, but the implementations I've seen so far have not been. I'm hoping Microsoft is going to get this one right.
I'm excited, but a little leery too - the first Microsoft wireless product I bought was the rather expensive Wireless Intellimouse Explorer, and it wasn't very impressive. The response time was poor (you'd have to shake the mouse back and forth to make your cursor "live again"), and the accuracy of the tracking left a lot to be desired. I tried repositioning the receiver several times, but it didn't help. I found it odd that my wireless Logitech mouse that was nearly five years old functioned better than this new Microsoft product. I'm generally a big fan of Microsoft hardware (I only use Microsoft keyboards and mice), so I hope that they've put some quality into their first Bluetooth product.
So what are your thoughts on this? Will Microsoft's offering be enough to make you take the plunge to Bluetooth if you haven't already? If you're already using Bluetooth, will this be a "must have" for you? Cast your vote in the survey.
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10-16-2002, 01:13 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 342
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wopld you beable to use it witha bluetooth enabled pocketpc?
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10-16-2002, 01:31 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 361
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it's likely that MS could choose to make compatibility with their BT mouse and keyboard a feature for PPC, but whether they will or not remains to be seen. I think with a slough of vendor coming up with BT built in or as an optional card package (Dell), it could gain support. Look for 2 years out, if it takes off.
Otherwise, we might see some very creative person write their own program...
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10-16-2002, 01:32 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 361
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Re: Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse are Coming
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
The more advanced mouse will sell for $84.95, though without seeing any photos it's hard to tell what it will offer.
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Did the FCC pictures from a couple months ago help to clear this up? I'll see if I can find them again...
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10-16-2002, 01:35 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Not sure why I would want a keyboard that can be used 30 ft away from the computer. I've never cared about the cable. The keyboard just doesn't move that much.
Gimme a BT printer, or better yet, a WiFi printer that just works. :twisted:
I like bt with my PPC and T68, but basic computer attachments? And at that price? Gimme a $40 keyboard and a decent optical mouse.
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10-16-2002, 01:40 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,768
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Media ecition
The Windows XP designed for the family room (I think it was called the media edition) will be a good area of use for this type of technology.
__________________
Jonathan (JonnoB)
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -Edmund Burke
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10-16-2002, 01:40 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 95
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Will you have to bond your keyboard and mouse to the bluetooth access point? Will we see bluetooth war chalking? 
Seriously though, I hope the bluetooth mouse has a higher refresh rate than the older style wireless mice. I bought a wireless mouse and keyboard from logitech and while I did like it, the refresh rate was that of a serial mouse and totally unsuitable for playing Unreal Tournament 2003 and the like.
One more thing...LOVE that poll animation on the front page 
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10-16-2002, 02:06 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,468
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Ed,
There is a BT printer - the HP 995c - and it works very well! You need to put no more thought into it than you would normally for printing.
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10-16-2002, 02:14 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 355
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Gee, is this the same Microsoft that left out Bluetooth support in the initial release of Windows XP?
I agree that this does seem to provide a certain legitimacy to Bluetooth, but the day to day benefit just doesn't seem to be there yet. I also agree that being able to use your keyboard 30' away from your PC isn't overly practical - that's one cord that I hardly ever notice anyways. Also, what about USB ports on the keyboard?
Bluetooth is certainly an interesting concept, but it is still too soon to tell if this will ever take off, or just be a curiosity for future historians, at least IMO.
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10-16-2002, 02:16 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 125
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I don't think the legitimacy of BT really has much to do with Redmond choosing to use it or not. If MS doesn't build it into their OSes (CE, XP), there are 3rd party drivers out there from the likes of Widcomm, which is what we have now. USB, for example, was very legitimate before MS finally put proper USB support into their OSes.
I think legitimacy can ONLY be counted by looking at the device manufacturers who are building it into their phones, printers, cameras, GPS devices, etc. Based on the proliferation of BT phones and other peripherals being readily available, I'd say that BT is unquestionably legitimate at this time, and that it is here to stay.
No arguements about a BT mouse being cool, but as for the keyboard, is a full size keyboard doing BT (or wireless in general, really) all that useful? It saves you from seeing a foot or two of cable on your desk. Unlike a mouse, you don't _move_ your keyboard all that much. You aren't going to take your BT keyboard into another room to use it where you can't see what you are typing. You aren't going to lug around a huge BT keyboard so you can type SMS messages on your phone with it. And then there is that whole annoying battery issue.
Where BT really shines, and where it is intended, is in situations where the cable isn't _always_ plugged in, like having your cell phone in your briefcase and not having to pull it out and fiddle with cables or line up fussy IRDA ports so you can check your email with your laptop/pda.
As far as using the MS keyboard with, say, an iPAQ goes, I don't think there is currently any "keyboard" profile built into the iPAQ BT driver, or any BT driver I have run across, actually. Someone willing to write a keyboard driver for it might be able to fuss around with the virtual BT serial port stuff and get something working.
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Linear Mode
