OpenOffice.org, the great organization that brought you … OpenOffice (of all things), is planning on making a move into PC hardware to improve your office productivity.  (And gaming.)  They call it the OOMouse and it might even be available by February 2010.

OOMouse - Brought to you by OpenOffice.org

All I have to say is: WTF?!

This multi-button mouse produced in conjunction with WarMouse has 18 programmable buttons.  (And ugly blocky very unaesthetic ones at that.)  But that’s not all.  Each of these buttons can be double-clicked and can operate in key, keypress, or macro mode.

The OOMouse also comes with the obligatory scroll wheel, of course, and the not-so-obligatory 512KB of flash memory for remembering 63 separate configurations, of which will be 20 default configurations for common programs like … OpenOffice (of course), Adobe Photoshop, GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program … the freeware alternative to Photoshop), World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, etc.  Funky.

It is also purportedly one of the first mice to ever include an analog joystick similar to that from a Microsoft Xbox 360 joystick and can use the joystick as a keyboard?  (Really?!)

OOMouse - Check that out, an analog joystick on a mouse!

“In the three joystick-as-keyboard modes, the user can assign up to sixteen different keys or macros to the joystick, which provides for easy movement regardless of whether the user is flying through the cells of a large spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel or on the back of an epic flying mount in World of Warcraft.”

Umm … yeah.  If you say so.  I’m thinking that the assortment of 18 buttons and a scrollwheel and a joystick on a mouse might ever so slightly cause not just a few people to suffer from information overload.

But whatever.  It’s still pretty freaking cool!

(Well, except for the colors.)

The OOMouse will be compatible with Windows, Linux, or Macintosh.  And should be priced around $75.  If you really want one, check it out here.

As of yet though, no mention of adjustable weight balancing.  Clearly ergonomics is not the primary feature of this slick puppy.  Maybe it’ll be a feature for the OOMouse2…