In my testing, it required very little movement to pull it out of range of the wireless hub. Would that the same could be said of the Wireless Optical Mouse. The unit also boasts a 27 MHz wireless system that Microsoft says cuts down on interference, and even warns the user when other wireless devices create electromagnetic noise. The multimedia keys offer access to music and video, a My Favourites key gets the user to the most-frequented websites, and enhanced function keys have been regrouped to that New, Open and Close are closer together. The trick is not to think of the keyboard as smiling at you, which is almost irresistible for people who aren't touch typists and tend to look at the keys while pecking away. The Wireless Optical Desktop's curved keyboard requires some getting used to, but not much.
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The "B" and "N" keys are enlarged and the G and H ones slightly less so, though not as dramatically as the space bar is on the Natural Keyboard Elite. One nice thing is the slightly curved keyboard, which Microsoft calls Comfort Curve, designed about half-way between a standard keyboard and the split keyboard. For instance, users who favour Adobe's Photoshop Elements will be able to open Photoshop Elements, but not edit a picture with the Edit button, or send it with the Send button.
#Microsoft wireless keyboard 5000 review software
The PhotoCentre keys can be reprogrammed through software supplied with the combination, but they can't be set up in such a way as to trigger functions within other programs. list), and probably lower on the street.īut the combination is not so valuable for people who don't want to use the Digital Image Standard 2006 software. When bundled with the wireless optical mouse, the three products are a bargain: $139 (Cdn. Put together, the software and the keyboard do make a happy combination. Ideal for those who take family snaps, fix them up a bit, print them for the family scrapbook or send them around via e-mail. The five buttons tell you the market for the product right away: Edit, Send, Print, Slide Show and Library. Microsoft appears to be really proud of this.
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The area of the keyboard that is dedicated to the program has a name - it's called the PhotoCentre - and is comprised of five buttons and a slider, which operates a zoom feature while working within Digital Image. Digital Image Standard 2006 doesn't talk down to the user as much as its predecessor, Picture It!, did, but it's still a tinkerer's product, one made more appealing with the addition of a bunch of dedicated keys on the keyboard. Now Microsoft has never had much luck with its photo-editing packages, and has been left behind by Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, and Paint Shop Pro, formerly a JASC product and now owned by Corel Corp. Its latest mouse-and-keyboard combination called the Wireless Optical Desktop 5000 is not only wireless, it is bundled with Digital Image Standard 2006, a photo-editing package that is integrated into the keyboard and is made for the market that likes to tinker with family pictures. This leaves manufacturers with two other options: play with wireless connectivity or make a keyboard dedicated to certain software. The Verdict: A good gift for people who want to start exploring the world of editing photographs.Īside from some ergonomic developments, I can't see many changes to the computer keyboard in the near future.The Bad: The curved keyboard requires some acclimatization, and the mouse's wireless transmitter gets sidetracked too easily.The Good: A system based on the assumption that the most things a user will do with it will be editing photographs, which comes at an unbeatable price: All three for $139.