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1. #Kensington expert mouse 7.0 optical trackball drivers
2. #Kensington expert mouse 7.0 optical trackball update
3. #Kensington expert mouse 7.0 optical trackball license
4. #Kensington expert mouse 7.0 optical trackball professional

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”.  I’m sure the sales figures for mouses are greater than for trackballs, but it’s the same situation between any consumer and “pro” product. Most people who go to buy a computer at Fry’s or Best Buy automatically buy a mouse as the computer comes with one. In many cases it’s 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. 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.)

#Kensington expert mouse 7.0 optical trackball license

Microsoft is also not willing to license the device at this time.

#Kensington expert mouse 7.0 optical trackball update

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 Microsoft’s stance on the issue has not changed they are still not listening to what their customers want (she didn’t use those words exactly, but that’s basically what it boils down to).

#Kensington expert mouse 7.0 optical trackball professional

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 $69.95 for a well designed, professional trackball, the “Trackball Explorer 2.0”. There has never been a response, probably because their trackballs are gone, period. I have written Microsoft a few times regarding this issue, and it’s likely few other people have done so, too. 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. When you’ve 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. And more importantly—especially when using 3D or CAD applications—mouse is less accurate. Oftentimes the available desk-space is limited — there is no space to move the mouse around (whereas, of course, a trackball is stationary). Today Microsoft offers just mouses for pointing devices — but a mouse won’t always do. But my guess is there are quite a few people out there who would be more than happy to pay, say, $69.95 for the (perhaps even slighly improved) device rather than scouring the dwindling sources for the trackball, or settle for another manufacturer’s best model that the “late” MS Trackball Explorer beat hands down. Was the demand really so minimal for the trackballs that it wasn’t worth it for Microsoft to continue manufacturing it? Perhaps the sales weren’t as strong as they’re “supposed” to be for this kind of a device—perhaps when compared to the sales figures of mouses.

None of the currently available models come anywhere close to the ergonomy of Microsoft’s Trackball Explorer, and this sentiment is echoed on countless hardware review forums on the web. Today the mainstream trackball alternatives include Logitech and Kensington models (plus some more industrial, or “80’s looking” trackballs by ITAC and Evergreen Systems). A quick search on eBay produces a handful of Trackball Explorers, each fetching at least $100 (often a lot more recently even several hundred dollars!) That’s pretty good for a device that one could pick up from a local computer retailer, or from the web for $39.95 few years back! 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. And, of course, it’s no longer available.