Damn you, Microsoft!

Many people have reason to curse Microsoft, of course, but this is a bit different.

Microsoft's greatest and perhaps only contribution to humanity, the Trackball Explorer, seems to have become a collector's item (with second-hand prices to match!) while I wasn't looking.

Mine is still working (for now), but I'd wanted to have one at home and one at school (read “in the office”), like I did at my last job, which is where I became acquainted with this device, and now that can't happen.

If only I'd known or even suspected back in 2005 or so; I would have picked up a few more.

But perhaps it's only appropriate, given that my extinct trackball is paired with an IBM Model M keyboard which marked its 21st birthday last Thursday. (It was not celebrated, as I'd misremembered the date. Oops.) This means it can legally drink alcoholic beverages now.