Okay, first of all, here are a few notes from one of the co-founders at Warmouse:
Just so you know, this comment is absolutely and completely untrue: "Ah yes, that mouse that Open Office said no thanks to, but the guy went ahead and branded it "OOMouse" anyway Grin." This is from a wildly inaccurate Engadget article, which they subsequently altered for fear that we would successfully sue them after we informed them that we had express written consent from OpenOffice.org to call the mouse the OpenOfficeMouse and put their logo on it from the start. What happened was that Sun - who owns the trademarks - freaked out for a few days after people started thinking that OpenOffice.org was doing the mouse. They wound up telling us that we could go ahead and call the mouse whatever we want, put their logo on the box, and perhaps even put the logo on the mouse if we still wanted to do so. We still have very good relations with them and will be shipping OOo 3.2 in the box with the mouse.
Anyhow, because a lot of people thought the mouse only worked with OpenOffice, we informed them that while we appreciated the re-confirmed permission, we weren't going to keep the OpenOffice branding. We're only calling it the OOMouse until we do our next press release, at which point we'll announce the new black color, the new name, and hopefully, the switch to a laser sensor. We already have the black prototypes in; I'll send you a picture this week.
While I wasn't there for any of that and can't confirm that first-hand, the guy I've been speaking to there is really down to earth and really into gaming and so forth. I've known a number of entrepreneurs in various industries, and quite a few are very much over-excited and over-hyping whatever "best thing since sliced bread" product they have. I don't get that vibe from the Warmouse folks at all. They have a much more mature, down-to-earth attitude. They know full well what they are making: a fairly niche product that will mystify most of the larger market, but which will be absolutely wonderful for their specific niche.
I know that they got some bad press at one point because of the whole OpenOffice thing, but I don't think that's a reason for anyone to look down on them. What matters is not that a company has had no problems, but how they handle the problems that they do encounter.
eRe4s3r: to your comments, I don't really feel like those are particularly constructive. While this might not be a mouse design you enjoy, a lot of thought has clearly gone into it and it's something that a certain subset of mouse users would probably really like. I don't care for the "Gamer Pad" or whatever you call them mice, which combine the left part of the keyboard with a bulky mouse and trackball combo, but clearly those are popular enough with certain folks. I also really can't use tablet PCs or tablet input devices with any comfort, but clearly those are a godsend for graphic artists and others with specific needs in that area.
Is the Warmouse a godsend for any particular niche? This is a new product, so only time will tell. For my part I think it is intriguing, and I like the specs and design on it better than its competitors from what I have seen, but it is not a type of product I have used personally in the past. At the moment I use a 5-button Intellimouse, and have been for the last 8 years, and absolutely love it. Before any substantive cross-promotion deals between Arcen Games and Warmouse are made, I'll be test driving their mouse to make sure that it is something I'd be comfortable in recommending. I doubt it will be a replacement for me for things like programming work or web browsing, but for certain applications -- 3D rendering,
possibly word processing, and definitely certain games -- I could personally see getting really hooked on a setup like this. The thumbstick is a particularly big seller for me.
But, time will tell, as I've not had any hands-on time with it yet. Right now all we're talking about is a profile for AI War on the mouse, so that people who do want to use the Warmouse to play AI War can do so in an ideal way. Is this cross-promotion? Of course. At the moment, Arcen and Warmouse have target markets that overlap to a fair degree (hardcore gamers of certain sorts are also often hardcore gadgeteers). So Arcen and Warmouse are looking into making the most of this overlap with some cross-promotion, which should be to the benefit of both companies as well as customers who would be interested in both products. And for those customers who are only interested in one product or the other, it doesn't have any effect on you at all. If the Warmouse isn't of interest to you, don't buy it -- similarly, for customers of the Warmouse, if AI War isn't something they are interested in, they shouldn't buy AI War. But for those who do want both, we're aiming to sweeten the experience.
Remember, just because someone is doing some promotion does not make them evil. When I was first promoting AI War around the good old friendly Internets, I was called all sorts of terrible names, including "one step up from a viagra ad." Then suddenly AI War became popular and people started talking about it of their own accord, and then I became a hero for going to various forums to answer questions and interact with customers. But. It. Was. The. Same. Thing. I'd. Been. Doing. Before. More or less, anyway. Perception is everything, and if Warmouse becomes popular and certain people are finding it useful and helpful for their uses, then this early static will be largely forgotten as the same static with the launch of AI War is all but buried 6 months on.
If their product isn't useful and good, or if it is good but simply doesn't connect with their target market for whatever reason, then it will die. Plain and simple. The same was true of AI War. It's popular now, but if I hadn't been doing all that legwork for all those months, it would have died at so many given points. The majority of you who are reading this and love the game would have never known of its existence. The Warmouse folks are trying to do the same sort of thing with their product, just like any other small company does when launching a product, and I respect that. If they were just in it for profit they would never make such an obscure product; the fact that they have means that they have found an unserved or underserved niche, evaluated it, and aim to serve that niche. That's the spirit of entrepreneurship right there, and it's something I respect. Cash-in "me too" products are something I don't respect, but from everything I have seen so far, that is not Warmouse at all.
Time will tell what all happens with this, if Arcen and Warmouse pursue a stronger partnership together in the future, but I wanted to let you know where I am coming from and why I am involved with this. It is my view that we small companies that serve niche markets need to stick together. There are a few other partnerships that we'll likely be announcing in the coming months, and all of those are similarly aimed at bolstering the customer base of both companies involved. This is what small companies need to do to survive if they are not an overnight, amazing, one-in-a-million success. You can't have it both ways: either you want the large, monolithic, stable-but-boring companies that keep pushing out the same old products with small tweaks, or you want small companies that do things that no-one has ever seen before. For me, I intend to always be the latter, and supporting the latter wherever I can.
In the end it looks like this Warmouse relationship might have a number of benefits for AI War and Arcen, but when they contacted me I decided to pursue further conversations knowing that it might not lead to any benefit to Arcen. I pursued it partly because it is my credo to always explore every potential opportunity until it turns infeasible/undesirable or until it is realized, but also partly just because the idea looked cool and I wanted to support that. So that's the inside scoop, let me know if you guys have more questions.
