The Microsoft Mouse is a

computer mouse A computer mouse (plural mice; also mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of the Cursor (user interface)#Po ...

released by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

in 1983. It is the first mouse released by the company, and it was bundled with the first versions of

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor program, word processing program developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platf ...

, and/or Notepad (inclusion of these two programs varied in the initial product release), an on-screen teaching tutorial, a musical piano program, a game, and one of the first home computer color bitmap creation programs, called “Doodle,” for an initial price of $195. The Microsoft Mouse featured a pair of green buttons, and was nicknamed the "green-eyed mouse". As with other mice at the time, the Microsoft Mouse used a steel ball for tracking. The Japanese company Alps Electric produced the mouse. The initial version featured a

DB-25 The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smallest connectors used on computer systems. Description, ...

Serial Port. Later versions were available with an InPort ISA interface, requiring a Microsoft bus card to be installed in the computer or a DE-9 serial connector. All versions of the Microsoft Mouse could be used with IBM-compatible and other DOS systems.

Later Microsoft mice

In 1985, Microsoft introduced the "gray-eyed" Microsoft Mouse, featuring a higher resolution than competing mice, and a rebadged copy of ZSoft PC Paintbrush called “PC Paintbrush,” which replaced Doodle in version 4 of the drivers. This would later be re-tooled and included with Windows 1, and formed the basis for Microsoft Paint. In 1987 the "dove bar" Microsoft Mouse (so called for the curved palm rest's resemblance to a Dove soap bar) was introduced, in variants for both Microsoft's InPort,

serial port A serial port is a serial communication Interface (computing), interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in Pa ...

and PS/2 port. In 1991, the

trackball A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse (computing), mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball t ...

"Microsoft BallPoint Mouse" was made. The "kidney" Microsoft Mouse 2.0 was introduced in 1993, and its design served as the basis for the IntelliMouse, which debuted in 1996. More Microsoft mice have been released in later years, including Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse, Microsoft SideWinder, Arc Mouse, Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse and others. Mouse Microsoft PS2.jpg, A PS/2 port-compatible Microsoft Mouse 2.0 Microsoft Serial Mouse 2.0A-8521.jpg, A

-compatible Microsoft Mouse 2.0 In January 2024, Microsoft announced that it would license the design and manufacturing of its current mice products to Incase, as part of an effort to focus more on its

Surface A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...

-branded accessories. These products will be branded under the Incase name, but as being designed by Microsoft.

Later Microsoft mice

References

Further reading