This morning, our Apple Pro Mouse, which I obtained via the keynote at Macworld Expo 2000, processed its last movements. It had been going for a few days, shorting out as the cable flexed, and this morning it said “enough” and stopped working. While I’m sure it can be fixed, it will live on as a treasured relic of its day.

I looked into getting a Mouse BT from MacMice, but they are backordered until May – not the best situation. So this afternoon, sprite and I went to Bust Buy to find a suitable alternative. I decided upon the Logitech Wireless Click! Optical mouse, which comes with its own wireless adapter and is Mac OS compatible.

Fearing that I might need to go to the office to get my other USB mouse (a Kensington Mouse-In-A-Box Optical that I bought back in 2002), I plugged in the wireless USB receiver into the iBook and hoped for the best….

IT WORKED!

No software installation needed, the Logitech mouse worked. Both buttons worked, the scrollwheel worked – no problem. The only thing I needed to do was slow down the mouse tracking speed (a major difference between Mac mice and mice designed for Windows, as this mouse is), but it works like a charm.

Would this be the same on Windows? Probably not. Sure, the Windows Hardware Wizard would find the receiver, say that “new hardware was detected,” and try to walk me through the process of finding the right driver. But Mac OS didn’t require even that much: it is truly plug-and-play.

I love the Mac OS!