WarMouse Meta review
A mouse with eighteen buttons! Does the WarMouse Meta – or what used to be known as the OpenOffice Mouse – need any further introduction? We didn't think so, and ever since we laid eyes on this thing we've been dying to know how you'd even go about using the programmable point-and-clicker. There's no doubt that the $79.99 Meta with its 512K of memory is the most advanced mouse we've ever seen – each of its 18 buttons along with their double-click functions can be configured for different applications, and its analog joystick can be customized to perform eight different commands. Indeed, it's as overwhelming as it sounds, but have we always needed an extra sixteen buttons on our mouse? The answer may shock you. Or it may not. You'll never know unless you hit the break for our full review.
In all honesty, the all black WarMouse Meta looks like a piece of 1980s tech equipment, and while it isn't attractive by any means, its plentiful amount of buttons certainty attracts attention. The response of a friend who saw the mouse sitting on our desk: "Holy buttons!" But on top of not being as handsome as Logitech or Razer offerings, it isn't as comfortable either. The hard plastic shell feels cheap, is wider than most, and our fingers inevitably ended up resting on one of the many mushy buttons. And we don't need to tell you we're not the biggest fans of the 3.5-foot cord – if you do hook this bad boy up to a desktop you'll want to make sure you're located close to the tower or that you pick up a USB extension cord.
It may look like the bounty of buttons on the face of the mouse aren't arranged in any order, but there's actually method to the madness. The sixteen buttons are divided by the clickable scroll-wheel into left and right groupings -- the default left and right mouse buttons are on the far sides, each flanked by another seven buttons labeled A1-A7 and B1-B7 in the Meta Modeware software. Besides all of those, the left edge is home to the joystick and a rounded-triangle shaped clicker. The underside gets no button love, just the high-resolution laser sensor.
The designer of the Meta first created the mouse to speed up navigation in World of Warcraft, but then realized that this sort of shortcut functionality could work for many non-gaming applications, including Photoshop and word processing programs. Despite the 30-page user manual and how crazy it sounds to assign shortcuts to so many buttons, it's actually fairly simple to set up. Out of the box the WarMouse worked with both a Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and MacBook Pro 13. The A1-A7 and B1-B7 buttons come pre-programmed for 25 applications, and though you could figure out what each of them does in various apps by trial and error, the included Meta Modeware PC software is really necessary for seeing what each of the buttons do in various applications and programing the gadget. While the Mac OS version of the Meta software isn't ready yet, you can customize modes and buttons using Modeware on the PC, and then plug it into a Mac to reap the shortcut benefits. Not a bad trick, if you happen to have a Mac and PC lying around or run Boot Camp. We were also able to program some of the buttons, including the scroll wheel and joystick, but not all using USB Overdrive.
We were pleasantly surprised at how simple the Modeware software interface was to navigate, and how easy it was to assign functions to each of the buttons. A series of tabs with the application names (i.e. Firefox, Microsoft Word, World of Warcraft, etc.) runs across the top, and below there's a visual diagram of the device, making it very easy to assign corresponding functions. While the commands range from program to program, most of common shortcuts – copy, paste, select all, open a new tab, minimize a window, close a program, refresh – are pre-assigned. If you desire more, you can create entirely new application profiles as well as tweak current settings in the program. For example, we set the B6 button to open Engadget.com in Firefox and B7 to do a tag search on the site.
Getting the Meta set up really isn't the struggle here. Nope, the struggle is all in remembering what you set each of the buttons to do. It's not that we have the memory of a goldfish, but trying to recall what 14 different buttons and each of their double click functions – yes, you can actually program this to do up to 48 shortcuts or commands per mode – requires an incredible amount of brain power. In practice we only ended up using a few of them: we got the hang of using A2 to copy, A4 to paste, B7 to open Engadget, and B5 to open a Google search in Firefox. We should also note here that we did mistakenly paste things into fields we didn't mean to -- yes, it made for some very funny IM convos. As for everything else that the mouse can do, we're just to used to using keyboard shortcuts. The most useful feature? The joystick -- and though you can assign different directional flicks we preferred using it to scroll up and down webpages. It was also comfortable to use in World of Warcraft to run our night elf around the forest. We should also mention that as a mouse for navigating, pointing and clicking, the Meta works just fine -- you can easily adjust the resolution from 100 to 5,600 DPI/CPI in Modeware.
The WarMouse Meta goes where no mouse has gone before. However, at the end of the day we can't help but wonder who could possibly remember how to use so many buttons on a single gadget. Sure, there's niche appeal for designers or gamers, but if you have $80 to spend on a mouse we'd honestly go with a more ergonomic option, like the Logitech MX 1100, and if you are a gamer the $130 Razer Mamba is rated amongst the top. But hey, if you have a stellar memory and need a mouse with 18 buttons that can manage more shortcuts than anything else out there, there's nothing quite like the WarMouse Meta.
Hardware

It may look like the bounty of buttons on the face of the mouse aren't arranged in any order, but there's actually method to the madness. The sixteen buttons are divided by the clickable scroll-wheel into left and right groupings -- the default left and right mouse buttons are on the far sides, each flanked by another seven buttons labeled A1-A7 and B1-B7 in the Meta Modeware software. Besides all of those, the left edge is home to the joystick and a rounded-triangle shaped clicker. The underside gets no button love, just the high-resolution laser sensor.
Software and everyday use

We were pleasantly surprised at how simple the Modeware software interface was to navigate, and how easy it was to assign functions to each of the buttons. A series of tabs with the application names (i.e. Firefox, Microsoft Word, World of Warcraft, etc.) runs across the top, and below there's a visual diagram of the device, making it very easy to assign corresponding functions. While the commands range from program to program, most of common shortcuts – copy, paste, select all, open a new tab, minimize a window, close a program, refresh – are pre-assigned. If you desire more, you can create entirely new application profiles as well as tweak current settings in the program. For example, we set the B6 button to open Engadget.com in Firefox and B7 to do a tag search on the site.
Getting the Meta set up really isn't the struggle here. Nope, the struggle is all in remembering what you set each of the buttons to do. It's not that we have the memory of a goldfish, but trying to recall what 14 different buttons and each of their double click functions – yes, you can actually program this to do up to 48 shortcuts or commands per mode – requires an incredible amount of brain power. In practice we only ended up using a few of them: we got the hang of using A2 to copy, A4 to paste, B7 to open Engadget, and B5 to open a Google search in Firefox. We should also note here that we did mistakenly paste things into fields we didn't mean to -- yes, it made for some very funny IM convos. As for everything else that the mouse can do, we're just to used to using keyboard shortcuts. The most useful feature? The joystick -- and though you can assign different directional flicks we preferred using it to scroll up and down webpages. It was also comfortable to use in World of Warcraft to run our night elf around the forest. We should also mention that as a mouse for navigating, pointing and clicking, the Meta works just fine -- you can easily adjust the resolution from 100 to 5,600 DPI/CPI in Modeware.
Wrap-up






























wow! would be hard to find left and right click on that lol!
@2her0ck
All these years of ergonomics research go down the drain!
@who said what
yeah, I'm pretty sure that I can hear Steve Jobs laughing in a deep dark room somewhere.
@2her0ck
Agreed.
I'd make the primary left and right mouse buttons a lot bigger and in the normal places... then put maybe only 3 or 4 buttons below each primary button.
Maybe 18 buttons is a little much!
But, I can't tell you how many times I've wanted separate buttons for cut, copy and paste on a mouse!
@electron
I was thinking the same. Looks like a misuse of the word "advanced" to me.
And I wonder what 18 programmable commands need 512MB of memory for?!?!
@Michael Scrip
You are right on. This fails because it has too many buttons. This succeeds because it realizes that people want more than just the basics.
@2her0ck It makes the Apple magicmouse look comfortable, and Logitech Revolution look like its lacking buttons.
@2her0ck IF they put 48 buttons on a mouse, they blew it.
@2her0ck This is Dark Vader Mouse....
@2her0ck when I saw it, I thought, "OpenOffice mouse", which I've seen before and seemed pretty daft for anything other than maybe first-person shooters (switching weapons with the mouse, maybe?). Now I see it advertised as a gaming mouse, and it still seems kinda stupid.
@2her0ck year 2060
tour guide: ... and here we have the Frankenstein Mouse of 2010
analog stick is nice maybe 8 buttons on top would have been good but that would be too confusing
@The Madman i would never use one... but i would definately use 2.... I wish so badly that you could have 2 cursors simultaniously on one monitor. combine that with a million f--ing buttons?! yes please. :]
@peetuhr
IT'S A KEYBOARD ON A MOUSE!!!
@Joanna
"scrollable click-wheel"?
@peetuhr
Yes we can have two of them and have half of QWERTY on each then with 2 pointers you could simulate multi-touch!!! who needs keyboards/touch screens!
@2her0ck Obviously, they didn't go far enough. The next version should have a little display on each button, indicating what it does. In short, it needs to be a mouse version of this: http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/
@bjsguess
Next Up: 19 button mouse. I'll make a fortune!
Just like "There's Something about Mary" where the crazy guy came up with "7 minute abs".
So how do I right click with this thing?
@Wokis idk man......looks bullsh*t to me.....
@Wokis if you need to right click, they blew it.
@untrueparadox I believe my sarcasm detector went off, but in case anyone agrees with you, if you have to @ click they blew it. Much less convenient IMO.
@Wokis There's an app, er, button for that.
@untrueparadox
If the term (insert feature here) becomes the next pun of apple they blew it....
for a noob that is!
Remapping the 16th button to bring up HD Porn
@AlienSix "No mum, don't click that!...."
@oldpass56 My poor English don't get this comment.
@AlienSix Wow! That's a good idea! 1 porn site per a button! And then I can get Eyefininity and watch multiple porn at once!!!
My life is complete!
ouch.
@oldpass56
I thought this thing was a fake at first. Now I just think it's silly.
That thing looks like a patron from the cantina in Mos Eisley.
Gross.
Is it a mouse or a pineapple grenade?
@One Love
Your in luck, as I've mapped them all to throw fragmentation grenades
You'll never forget the throw grenade command again!
@Slick : On my mouse I have "melee" mapped right next to "jump", so sometimes when I try to knife, I get killed in midair. (worst killcam ever)
oh my!! that mouse went gaga!
talk about hitting all the branches while falling out of the ugly tree...
Can I program a button for controlling the War in Iraq?
Oh goodness me... WarMouse? What's next? WarUSBHub?
I, personally, don't see the reason for having a mouse such as this.
@RickStar
I think the name is a bit overkill for something without spikes...
@Grizz
Me too. That makes me want to buy one just so I can revamp it.
wtf there's a cord??? what is this the '80s???
@Spoony Any real gamer will tell you that wireless mice lag, and that lag might cost you the game.
That said, any gamer that uses this is nucking futs or just wants to play one-handed.
@MowDownJoe
You lost the game.
@SolidSnake Really?
http://xkcd.com/391/
@MowDownJoe
Ya rly.
http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ya_rly.jpg
This is pretty epic, the possibilities are making my synapses burst into flames...
It's like some matter collided with some antimatter. Out came every Apple product on one side, and this on the other.
@Pryomancer haha, brilliant.
It looks like someone forgot to clean the flies out of the telepod before transporting their mouse.
you could macro bits of code to the buttons and proggram without using a keyboard for 90% of the of the coding