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Frequently Asked Questions

Is the OOMouse part of OpenOffice.org?

No, the OOMouse is produced by a private company called WarMouse. OpenOffice.org is a open source software community. The OOMouse comes with profiles designed specifically for use with the five primary OpenOffice.org applications utilizing information gathered by OpenOffice.org's Usage Tracking group.

What is the difference between WarMouse and the OOMouse?

WarMouse is the company name and gaming brand, and the OOMouse is the first product to be released by WarMouse. While the OOMouse makes for an superior gaming mouse in its own right, it is designed for a wide range of use including games and non-gaming applications such as OpenOffice.org. We will be announcing a series of WarMice in 2010 which will incorporate what we believe to be the most useful features of currently popular gaming mice in addition to new gaming-specific features we have designed.

Is this like Apple's Magic Mouse?

It's almost the complete opposite of Apple's approach with their new mouse. The Magic Mouse has one giant button that can do 10 things, we have 18 buttons that can each do two or more things. And a scroll wheel. And a joystick. And 512k of memory.

How do I hold the mouse?

We have found the most effective way is to rest your first three fingers on the mouse with your thumb on the joystick. Your index finger controls the first two vertical rows, your middle finger utilizes the two middle ones and the scroll wheel, and your ring finger the last two rows. This lets you click and double-click with a minimum of effort and finger movement. A two-fingered "V" approach can be even faster, but will tend to place an amount of strain on the index finger over time. On the ergonomic plus side, the decreased use of icons and pull-down menus significantly reduces the amount of wrist movement required.

Aren't all those buttons hopelessly confusing?

Not at all. It usually takes about two days to get accustomed to a new profile. If you can handle the buttons on a smartphone, you can easily handle the buttons on the OOMouse. The buttons are laid out in such a way as to make it easy to know which one your finger is on without needing to look at it. And if you get confused as to which button does what, just click the help button to see a transparent map of all the commands assigned to the buttons in your active profile. Or, alternatively, you can refer to the PDF exported for that profile.

Can I reassign the buttons on the default profiles?

You can customize them and rearrange them however you like. It's very easy. Just click on the function in the relevant profile, click Assign, then click on the button you want. To assign a double-click, do the same thing but check the double-click box before clicking on the button.

What if I don't feel like making my own profiles but there's no default profile for a game or application I'm using?

We're building up a catalog of default profiles for everything from major mainstream applications to obscure DOS abandonware. If we've got it, all you have to do is download the file and load it into the software. That's it. You're ready to go. And if we don't have it, email us a request. A full profile with 32 button assignments only takes about 15 minutes to create from scratch.

When does the first gaming-dedicated WarMouse come out?

Don't worry, we'll let you know when it's ready! Follow us on Twitter or the OOmouse blog to keep up on the latest news.

Why does the OOMouse only support up to 1600 DPI?

Because DPI in excess of 2000 is effectively useless and many of the top gaming professionals actually find much lower DPI settings to be more effective in competitive play. Also, because the OOMouse is designed specifically for non-gaming applications, we saw no point in increasing the cost of the mouse for what is little more than a point of marketing comparison.

What on Earth can you do with 512k memory? Isn't that just a marketing comparison?

Not at all. You can have longer macros with more characters. You can store more game and application settings in the mouse for faster and more reliable switching from application to application. The more buttons you have, the more memory you need. And, we suspect the open source community will come up with even more useful ideas for how to use it.

What's up with the Intellivision thing?

We are serious old school gamers with great respect for the classic games. Unfortunately, until now, the PC has never had a satisfactory input device to replace the gold thumb disc when using PC Intellivision emulators such as Nostalgia or Intellivision Lives. With all the wisdom inherent in 28+ years of game development, the Blue Sky Rangers saw the utility of our mouse design and were kind enough to provide us with a custom multi-game Intellivision emulator that serves as an excellent demonstration of the OpenOfficeMouse's gaming capabilities.

Real Intellivision games? Which ones?

Of course. Our long-time favorites... we'll be announcing them in the future.

How about other emulators?

Thanks to the analog joystick, the OOMouse is phenomenal with MAME and classic arcade games such as Ms. Pac-man, Joust, Donkey Kong, and Ikari Warriors. It has been extensively tested in this capacity.

Is your setup sofware really open source? Why?

Yes, it really is. We will be releasing our code to the wild under the GPL sometime in January. We don't sell software, we don't believe in stifling technological development, and we really don't believe that we are the only ones who can figure out interesting and effective ways to use the OOMouse's revolutionary mouse interface. If you've got a better idea, then we want to help you make it happen.


-faq