Erik von Fuchs - Tour of Hardware Lab, Clip One
- Posted: Jun 08, 2005 at 5:00 PM
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At this point, most of us take the common computer peripherals like mice and keyboards for granted. They're just always there. Ever wonder how one of these things gets made, from start to finish? Well, Scoble was curious so he asked Erik von Fuchs of the
Microsoft Hardware Lab to tell and show us all about it.
In this clip, Erik takes us through the stages of mouse design and leads us on a tour of the industrial design lab.
Enjoy.
Download Size: 108 MB
In this clip, Erik takes us through the stages of mouse design and leads us on a tour of the industrial design lab.
Enjoy.
Download Size: 108 MB
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C
I've got a question for Microsoft hardware.
What happened to your keyboard line?
During the last couple of years it has taken a nose dive. There is not one keyboard that micrsoft currently makes that I would use or recommend to anyone. The last and best keyboard ever made by microsoft was the Natural Keyboard Pro (http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,17102,00.asp).
Has anyone else noticed that nearly every programmer shown on Channel9 is using a Natural Keyboard Pro? (not an elite!)
The Natural Keyboard Pro
1) It is a full-size ergonimic keyboard.
2) The Insert,Delete,Home,End,PgUp,PgDn keys are in the correct place and are full-size! I can't stress enough how it irritating it is when this is wrong.
3) A built-in USB hub! This is the best! Easy to plug-in a mouse.
Call to Action
1) Re-release this keyboard (in black as well as white)
2) Update the USB to 2.0
Please give at least give us a good split keyboard without screwed up Ins,Del,Home,End,Pg keys!
What could be more interesting than seeing how stuff is made?
You know, most Microsoft mice are too big for me (the laptop mice are nice). They seem to be designed with the assumption that people move their mouse by moving their whole arm. I keep my hand on the desk all the time and move the mouse with my thumb and my pinky. Mice that fill up the entire palm of my hand are useless for me because they hinder my ability to move down as far as I'd like.
You'd have to see it to understand it I guess.
An Insert key
No F-Lock
Correctly spaced F keys (F1-F4, F5-F8)
Why? For a keyboard, what does USB 2.0 buy (except for an inability to sell keyboards for older machines (which is a critical market for the hardware guys (see the video))).
Maybe he's a REALLY fast typist - or perhaps he has one of those "Flash the LEDs" programs and he wants to see what that baby can REALLY do.
EDIT: but seriously folks...
Isn't there something about having USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 devices on the same bus... where the 2.0 devices are slowed to 1.1 speed?
Since the keyboard isn't using the full USB2 bandwidth I'd assume plugging it into a USB1 slot wouldn't have a detrimental effect. I run my USB 2 CD Burner on an old USB1 laptop and the only side effects I get are losing the ability to burn at high speeds.
The lastest keyboard I got has the insert, delete, etc keys arranged in an odd way. I hate it. Hate hate hate.
Also, the extra function keys / hot keys - I find them pointless and never use them. Do other people? Am I unusual?
I use a Microsoft MultiMedia Natural and would like to see the F-Lock removed (*shudder*); have it support USB instead of PS2 only and fix the dam legs on the thing that snap if you push down too hard!
I agree that the key location on the second version was messed up but, other manufacturers did even worse by placing the power buttons next to the Ins, Del, Home buttons. I had to use one of these for a while and it happened several times that I pressed the shutdown button instead of Ins. It did not even have a confirmation box...
You cut it off right at the interesting part!
1. It makes the right side of the keyboard narrower. As a right-handed mouse user, it means I can put my arm in a more natural, ergonomic position.
2. The insert key is out of harms way. You have no idea how often I would accidentally hit insert. Okay, so now I have this problem with home, but at least pressing home won't mean overwriting important text.
The F Lock has got to go. It's utterly useless. Especially since there's no IntelliType for XP x64, which means that with F Lock on, none of the keys actually do anything.
http://www.mvps.org/jtsang/flock.html
Not ideal but good enough
Bit it looks like they changed the design
I just finished the 7 hour download of this video on dialup (as we say in Australia, "C'MON!"
Goodnight/morning.
Loadsgood.
Internet Keyboard Pro !!!
Love that one-- last one I bought... still using it now....
USB2.0 -- > the keyboard is a hub so it means I can't get a 2.0 device on it to run at 2.0 speed.
also just give me the same keyboard w/o the PS2 connector... I know it helps back-compat but it also on this keyboard adds a plastic block and a second connector... Yuk!
-- this keybaord does not use an "Adpater" plug -- it's got two heads on one cord.
how do some keyboards do power-off and power-on from a keyboard? I'd love to see that in more keyboards.
the newwer ones with the odd left-side button-slider whats-its look ugly to me...
a few buttons on the top are ok but some of the ones now are just ape-crazy with buttons...
I LIKE the extra text on the "front" side of the key cap...
helps to show new users how to use keybaord shortcuts and not the mouse....
I'd love to getn the source code and update it to work on XP Pro!
Microsoft Cordless Phone 900MHz
had drivers for Win95-98 and then fell into the black hole.... still have it working as a phone.
but no more CTI functions like VoiceMail, VoiceCommand etc...
I have used almost all of the Microsoft hardware, and while I'm a big fan, there was always one major feature missing from every single product.
The MS Phone (wish it worked on XP) couldn't have a rule setup to forward my home answering machine messages to me at work. It also had a speakerphone where you could only hear the other person, you couldn't talk.
The MS USB Speakers (which rocked btw) didn't have a headphone jack. You know what you do when your speakers don't have a headphone jack? You get new speakers.
The MS keyboard (Office version anyway) starts up with the F-Lock off by default so if you have to F8 to change your startup type, you have to plug in a different kb.
I could go on and on.
Anyway, I'm not trying to discourage MS from doing hardware, I'd prefer they do more hardware, I would just hope that they would bring power users into the development process earlier on.
I really REALLY wish they would make another one. The best part is it would tell you who was calling when the phone rang so you didn't have to get up and look at caller ID. Ahhhh... the good old days.
I have two Keyboard Pro's, one in use and one for backup. I would buy a new one too if you would keep the original layout. i can't stand the new insert/home key layouts.
I don't care about the USB hub but wireless would be a key sales point as I have a wireless mouse already.
So please bring back the Natural Keyboard Pro.
What happened to your keyboard line?
During the last couple of years it has taken a nose dive. There is not one keyboard that micrsoft currently makes that I would use or recommend to anyone. The last and best keyboard ever made by microsoft was the Natural Keyboard Pro (http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,17102,00.asp).
Has anyone else noticed that nearly every programmer shown on Channel9 is using a Natural Keyboard Pro? (not an elite!)
The Natural Keyboard Pro
1) It is a full-size ergonimic keyboard.
2) The Insert,Delete,Home,End,PgUp,PgDn keys are in the correct place and are full-size! I can't stress enough how it irritating it is when this is wrong.
3) A built-in USB hub! This is the best! Easy to plug-in a mouse.
Call to Action
1) Re-release this keyboard (in black as well as white)
2) Update the USB to 2.0
Please give at least give us a good split keyboard without screwed up Ins,Del,Home,End,Pg keys!
Yes!!! The Natural Keyboard Pro was great, mine just packed it in a few days ago!
The new keyboards are nowhere near as good and they've completely gone after the dumb user market - The FLock key is a *complete* disaster!
Whoever designed the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 deserves a medal though! Thank god I'm right handed
I am currently using the MS Natural Multimedia keyboard and it is very good. But I am looking to get a good mouse, any suggestions anyone
heck if we had the code files we could compile a new set of bin files for the hardware we have!
I know it's reall a kind of "Modem" and some RS232 comm's are talking to it to get Caller ID and some of the other stuff....
but I hate the idea of spending a year hacking it when I might be able to hack the code in a weekend to run on xp if I had the sources to build.
Me too! I miss this keyboard.
MS does hardware really well, in my opinion, other than a fatal flaw here and there. It makes me wonder why they don't do more hardware design and why it comes out so half heartedly?
Was there ever an ad or a mention of the MS Phone anywhere? I don't even remember how I found it, I think it was on a discount rack somewhere. The MS Voice Commander could have been a Skype package long before Skype ever got popular.
I hope we see more in the future.
My biggest problem with the keyboard is that I can't find Naturals anymore. I saw a gray MMN at Office Max yesterday, but Best Buy and CompUSA no longer have them in stock, and my cat likes to chew through the cable.
Another gripe: I LOVE trackballs (finger, not thumb), but it doesn't benefit from any of the newer design perks that the mice get (leather grip, for example...I'm about to just mold my own formed rubber one) or newer colors.
as I recall I got my phone at office depot, it was the last one and they had it marked down to go.
and BTW: most of the Guts are made by other companies... MSFT just branded it I think.
The Multimedia keys are one of that things I've never needed - instead I've learnt the most important Shortcuts of my Programs.
As my personal mouse I prefer a simple optical Locitec OEM-Mouse (in white) with cord (I dont like the drawbacks of the wireless technology). The microsoft-mices are nice, but aren't fitting well into my hands - much to heigth.
And for CAD/CAM there is nothing better than an additional good SpaceMouse.
what about a mouse that changes colour to match the theme of the PC, not just solid plastic colour, like the wallpaper of the future will
finger scanner on mouse, with encryption so wireless is possible
force feedback, buttons that give feedback when clicking, say a sandy texture or liquid like feel - i remember reading something about this for computer screens
theres was a story about a mousemat that can chanrge devices (not just mice) that lye on top of it, what about working toward a standard like that - I think it was in the new scientist or on zdnet
fuel cell mice?
i would also like to have my (wireless) keyboard have its keys light up. I dont care if its supposed to be in a well lit room, sometimes when I watch a dvd with the lights off i just need to see the keys properly. What about a sensor on the keyboard that would raise the light levels of the keys to suit the darkness. Or like in the film Hackers 1993 (yea i know) this laptop had a keyboard with funny keys, they had pictures on or something, for those that want to each key should be a super cheap screen which could show the keyboard characters in the font that the PC is themed too, or a picture like a smiley. This would be good for shortcuts, also the (wireless) keyboard keys should light up at a clap or voice command, even have the lights fade in from left to right etc...
Ditto here. F2 should be F2, not "undo" or whatever it is.
Dialup? You're crazy...
Yeah, we do have it here in Australia. Just check out your local Dick Smith/Harvey Norman/Office Works etc... Go look at their keyboards section, and then find one of the Microsoft keyboards. Along the top row you will see that there is a key with a big "F" on it that also says "F Lock".
Check this picture out and see if you can see the F Lock key.
You see, with a keyboard with the F Lock key, you can't press your regular F1, F2 etc... buttons unless you hit that F-Lock key (turning it on). So F1 is "Help" F2 is "Undo" etc...
For pretty much the same reasons I still use the original Natural Keyboard.
If you would re-release the Natural Keyboard Pro (or a new version of it) I would certainly buy it!
Sorry, but you're missing the point! The Natural keyboard Pro has an integrated USB hub!! So it's really important to upgrade to USB 2.0 to be able to get the maximum out of USB 2.0 memory sticks etc... And you can still make it work on older PC's!!! Just like those USB2.0 memory sticks, they perfectly work on USB1.1 as well (just a bit slower).
So please Microsoft, consider our many requests for a new version of this Natural Keyboard Pro!!
Wow, I've truely never seen that before... But I guess it's because I've only ever used an old "normal computer" keyboard. More recently, laptops with their keyboards, which are partially annoying but I've gotten used to it. They get really dirty and the keys are small. But they are portable and small, that's what I need, so I'm going to stick with them.
I also don't use the really small mice (aka "laptop mice") because they are too tiny and get on my nerves. The big mice are for me, I have a $20 usb Microsoft basic Optical Mouse that I got from Officeworks about a year ago , I should probably update but it works for me so when it breaks, I'll get a new one.
Hehe, after reading this post... I am crazy
Loadsgood.
OLEDs would be able to do this. But there are just kind of research today.
Hmm... - don't understand what the one has to do with the other; finger scanner, encryption and wireless are three different and independend Technologies; You can only combine them into a singular product.
I remember there where some tries to do so. But the force coppling didn't worked well. So there is a solution using an kind of little force-feedback-joystick with an Mouse on it.
(but I don't know who the vendor is/was - sry volks!)
Throught electro-magnetic field. But it has also some drawbacks:
Fuel cells are for high energy for a short time. When needing low energy for a long time a modern accumulator is much better.
Such keyboards are existing too - except I'm not sure about the dimmer-function.
Personally I know my keyboard very well and don't need this function because I can handle it witout looking at it. But that's just a 2 cent meaning...
Oh man.. what I'd give for MS to update the Natural Keyboard Pro.
I've got a stack of these that I've bought off eBay, but they are starting to get really expensive and it's getting harder to find ones in good condition. I have backup ones though as I couldn't live without my Natural Pro - it's the ultimate power user keyboard.
Please MS - re-release that beauty with USB2.0!
I tell you what nano-electronics has to do with it, everything. Mechanical changes with today’s technology is not flexible enough, I meant something like T2, liquid metal that really would change, not jittery mechanical pre-programmed positions like a two speed windscreen wiper.
“Hmm... - don't understand what the one has to do with the other; finger scanner, encryption and wireless are three different and independend Technologies; You can only combine them into a singular product.”
Yes, maybe, but the point was that the most recent keyboard product Microsoft released with a finger/thumb scanner had a specific warning that the feature was not suitable for sensitive information and more of a novelty.
I cannot see people going back to wires now they have had a taste of wireless, I cannot see people excepting wired mice unless they have to i.e. for security reasons. So having a mouse or keyboard with a scanner that was ‘good enough’ and completely secure in transmitting that data wirelessly, well that’s what I want.
“Such keyboards are existing too - except I'm not sure about the dimmer-function.
Personally I know my keyboard very well and don't need this function because I can handle it without looking at it. But that's just a 2 cent meaning...”
What a coincidence as luck would have it I am confident when navigating around my keyboard too, however when watching Star Trek everything responds to the lighting or voice commands, even with its own eerie sense of intelligence, so I am still completely in favour of a more illuminated keyboard.
As for keyboards that already exist which can display pictures instead of characters on the keys; I would be more than interested to know who sells these.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000720046633/
Scoble: A few years ago I bought a "buckling spring" keyboard from pckeyboards.com. (The link doesn't work anymore) It's close, but not quite like the old IBM keyboard I liked.
And comming again off of that comment about a pad that can charge all devices, the following link shows that Microsoft themselves have this concept in mind:
http://www.idsa.org/idea/idea2005/b1285.htm
Who uses CRT's anyway.
Samuel
Close enough, new MCE keyboards have Hotkeys that light up but not the QWERTY keys, and its wireless - so almost.
http://www.betanews.com/slideshow/Microsoft_Media_Center_Hardware/34/1
Samuel
http://www.artlebedev.ru/portfolio/optimus/
Bad luck microsoft.
amen to that, I've broken/super glued mine so many times now they can't be fixed
Is there any place to get new ones?
Can Channel 9 get a video of all hardware designed and manufactured by microsoft?
James
Err actually its not
Hi,
I have the model 1027 that was mentioned a lot in the video and have some feedback.
1. Never used the shortcut buttons i.e calc as there to far to the left.
2. Why is the zoom thing so big.
3. The mouse that come with the keyboard ctl093lpd0169 is nice but to fat.
4. good point love the wrist support.
5. Is there any way to protect the letters on the keyboard as mine wear of so quickly.
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