Microsoft's New Mouse and Keyboard - Good or Bad?

The folks at Wired did an article a couple of days ago about Microsoft's new mouse and keyboard. In their heading, they call them lovely. They are not yet available for sale and therefore I've not had a chance to use them myself. From the picture, lovely is probably one of the last words I'd use. Even though I have fairly small fingers, the keyboard looks completely unusable to me. At first glance it looks similarly compact as the recent Mac keyboards. I have attempted to use those and I wasn't able to type of them worth a darn. They may look sexy, they just aren't usable. What do you think of this new keyboard and mouse?

Now I'm not a huge fan of mice at all (or trackballs for that matter). While I don't recommend a mouse to be your primary pointing device, I do feel it is important that all users have one. Back in February I suggested the Logitech M305 Wireless Mouse because it is very functional and not very expensive. I have one sitting on my desk and keep another one in my laptop bag. While not my primary choice for a pointing device, it does work well.

What do I suggest for a pointing device? I swear by Wacom tablets. For those on a tighter budget, look at the Wacom Bamboo series. If you want the best, get one of the Wacom Intuos5 tablets.

As a writer, the keyboard is a very important part of my computer. When visiting client sites, I usually get the chance to use a lot of bad keyboards. I've been using the Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000 for years and absolutely love it. It is comfortable and makes it easy to type. I keep seeing attempts (like the one mentioned in the Wired article) to make keyboards more compact and I just see them as difficult to use. If I can't type on it, it just isn't much use to me.