I use a Logitech MX 1000 mouse at work. It’s a very sweet mouse that sits nicely in my right hand. It’s wireless, tracks nicely, has great battery life, and a plethora of buttons — enough for my non-MX1000-using cow-orkers to kid me about it.

My only beef against it is that I wish the wheel would scroll smoothly, like many of today’s Microsoft mice. Well, that and the fact that — as of a few hours ago — the middle button stopped responding to clicks. It’s part of the wheel device, but every other part of the wheel works. I can scroll up and down, left and right, just no middle clicky. I swapped mice with another cow-orker who uses an MX1000 and found his working nicely, while mine still didn’t work on his Mac.

A mouse without the middle clicky feature is dead to me, so I plugged in my old USB MS Intellimouse Explorer, reconfigured X — it shouldn’t be as tough as it is — and got on the phone to Logitech.

After sitting on hold for 15+ minutes, I spoke with Alex. He listened to my story, asked when and where I bought it, took down the model number, part number, and serial number of my MX1000, then said they’d be sending a replacement within seven business days. Sweet.

Of course, a response like this shouldn’t please me as much as it does. I’m so used to the sorry state of consumer electronics support that I expected to talk — over a bad connection — with a person (well, after spending an hour locked in phone-tree hell, being presented with options that had no connection what-so-ever with my current problem) in a call center in India who can barely speak English. She or he would read from as script, not veering one bit to take into account the troubleshooting I’ve already done. Finally, they’ll tell me I need to install the latest Windows software for the mouse to be officially declared broken. When I tell them (again) that I’m running Linux, not Windows, for them to say, “Sorry, our hardware is only supported under Windows,” then rudely hang up so that they can get on to their next call and increase their call stats. Wait ten minutes for the blood pressure to go down, then call back, pretending to be using Windows, silently pausing when they ask me to install some Windows software or check some Windows setting. I hate the fact that I have to lie to get anything done with some many tech support people, if not for the moral issues, but I want Linux to be counted. I don’t want these companies to look at the user stats that only allow you to choose Windows or MacOS and say, “Our user base has no interest in Linux.”

*pant pant*

Okay, rant over. I’m happy with Logitech’s response and look forward to getting a fixed MX1000 in up to seven business days. Oh, and one final cool part? I don’t need to return the broken one. Time for a mouse autopsy.