Multi-button mouse aims to click with OpenOffice users

While the OOMouse device is likely to appeal to game players, it was designed primarily to work with applications such as OpenOffice, Photoshop, Microsoft Office and Autodesk's AutoCAD. As well as a scroll wheel, the OOMouse has 18 buttons, an analog joystick, and support for up to 52 different key commands.

"The WarMouse team have worked closely with experts from the OpenOffice.org user experience project to deliver the full benefits of the world's leading open-source office software to the fingertips of users," said John McCreesh, marketing project lead at OpenOffice.org.

WarMouse's online web store is not yet up and running, but a note promises that it will open soon. The OOMouse should cost about £50 (AUD$90).

"You can do far more with this mouse than most people are likely to realise at first," said WarMouse designer Theodore Beale.

"You can launch applications from the desktop, and in your browser you can fire up a specific internet site with one button, then close it with a double-click on the same button. In Writer and Calc, you can have your most powerful and complicated macros on one row of buttons and simple functions like Bold, Undo, and Format Cell on another.