Microsoft celebrates 30 years of hardware with limited edition Arc Touch mouse

You might not think about it much, but Microsoft has a long and storied history making computer hardware. This year marks the company’s 30th year of producing its own hardware, all of which started in 1982 with the two-button “green-eyed monster” mouse (pictured in the gallery below). The hardware team is now celebrating its 30th anniversary with a commemorative Arc Touch mouse. Only 30 units of the mouse will be produced… and we got our hands on one of them.

Each of the limited edition Arc Touch mice has two hand-painted sections on it. The first is the circled “3o” pictured above, while the second says “30 years of hardware” and is painted on the underside of the mouse. The rubber texture on the palm rest is also a custom job — the raised diamond pattern is not found on Microsoft’s standard Arc Touch mice. Aside from those niceties, it’s Microsoft’s standard, and popular, Arc Touch.

The limited edition mouse Arc Touch includes a certificate of authenticity which was signed by the designer of the mouse, Senior User Experience Lead Young Kim, and Brett Kelleran, the General Manager of Microsoft Hardware.

In a meeting with Microsoft, I was able to handle not only the anniversary edition Arc Touch but also an unreleased clear Arc Touch. It might not be hand-painted or custom-textured, but it’s an incredibly cool mouse:

The clear “demonstrator” model is not available in any shape or form, but then neither is the 30th anniversary mouse. In the next few days Geek.com will be giving away our Arc Touch, and Microsoft’s Hardware team is doing the same, but it will remain a very, very rare mouse.

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