New Hardware Features Tilt Wheel

The latest editions of some mice and keyboards from Microsoft Hardware feature scroll wheels that tilt left and right, allowing users to scroll horizontally without moving the mouse. With this and other improvements, Microsoft hopes to convince users to upgrade from the standard mice and keyboards that come with their PCs and to attract OEMs and system builders with a unique feature.

Tilt Wheel technology, which will probably be most useful for scrolling across large graphics files and spreadsheets, appears on the newest editions of the IntelliMouse (including the wireless version), Wireless Optical Mouse, and Wireless Optical Desktop Elite keyboard. The Elite keyboard adds “Back” and “Forward” buttons above the scroll wheel for navigating between pages in Internet Explorer or screens in Windows Explorer. The new navigational features are unrelated, however, to the Xeel navigation controls that Microsoft demonstrated earlier in 2003, which it eventually hopes to propagate to all Windows-based devices. (See the illustration “Xeel Navigation Interface” on page 20 of the June 2003 Update.)