Microsoft Intellimouse™
In 1996, Microsoft will
introduce the Intellimouse ™, a new version of its mouse
which will dramatically improve the ease with which Office can be
used. We believe that Office customers will quickly come to rely
on the Intellimouse ™ to perform routine operations faster,
easier, and more powerfully. We also believe that Office
customers will expect these new navigation methods to be
supported in other products too, particularly those they use with
Office. So as a general rule, Office Compatible 97 products must
support the Intellimouse ™. Some exceptions exist, however,
so read Office Compatible 97 Testing Requirements to
determine whether this requirement applies to your product.
Microsoft believes that the
requirement to include Intellimouse ™ support in Office
Compatible products will benefit Office customers by assuring
them that their new navigation skills will be seamlessly and
consistently supported in the products they use with Office. In
addition, Microsoft hopes the anticipated enthusiasm for the
Intellimouse ™ will quickly spread to Office Compatible
products, too.
To work with the Intellimouse
™, a product must support a few additional, mouse-generated
Windows messages, and it must make some relatively minor changes
to the standard Windows user interface during some common
navigation operations. Although the time required to make these
changes will vary from one product to another, initial results
suggest that Intellimouse ™ support can be included in 3 to
5 days in most cases. In other words, Intellimouse ™
support should not pose a major technical problem for most Office
Compatible 97 products.
When this Office Compatible 97
toolkit was released to manufacturing in the Spring of 1996, the
Microsoft Intellimouse ™ was still confidential, and so the
technical information needed to support it could not be included
here. A complete Intellimouse ™ SDK will be included in the
Office Compatible 97 toolkit that will be shipped on the October
version of the Microsoft Developer Network CD's (MSDN). So, look
for complete Intellimouse ™ technical information there.
In the meantime, Microsoft will
release the Intellimouse ™ SDK and sample mice on a limited
and confidential basis to vendors whose products meet certain
criteria. If your product meets the following criteria, we
encourage you to apply for a pre-release version of the
Intellimouse ™ SDK:
Product is enrolled in the Office
Compatible 97 program (see Enrolling In Office Compatible 97)
Product will be released before the end
of 1996.
Product must support Intellimouse ™
to participate in Office Compatible 97 (see Office Compatible
97 Testing Requirements). In other words, the SDK will not be
pre-released to products that cannot support it (e.g., most
add-ins).
If your product meets these
criteria and you would like to apply for a pre-release version of
the Microsoft Intellimouse ™ SDK, please contact the Office
Compatible program by sending email to OFFCOMP@MICROSOFT.COM.