Logitech: 20 years of good mice and dreadful software.

All I have ever wanted was to map a mouse thumb button to double click. That's all, and I prefer a free wheel to a click roller. Can Logitech deliver? The answer is, no, and it is so grossly frustrating. It also lays bare how you as an individual count for nothing, somebody to be ignored when the masses, especially the reviewers, are gushing with praise, hence one need to go away with their pithy problems.

The trigger for writing this? I just restated my PC, that I hibernate every night after the Windows 10 Explorer and Icon Sheppard were refusing to play ball. Logitech's G-Hub manages to recreate a version of the problem that has plagued their software for over 20 years. Namely it detects my lightspeed mouse, but fails to register the button assignments. The first I notice this is when I thumb button click an icon, and nothing happens. Oh dear, it's that old chestnut again, quit it, and re-load. I just hadn't realised that their software has now become so awful that it couldn't even load correctly on a fresh Windows start-up. Normally it happened if you sleep or hibernate the machine, but on a fresh start, I just didn't think it possible.

Now this is more frustrating than you can imagine, you wake the machine up by moving a mouse, tapping a keyboard etc. and then thumb click on an icon, expecting a double click, but nothing happens. Oh, restart Logitech's, all bells and whistles but doesn't quite work, software again.

Remember I said 20+ years of this. It starts with an interesting story, I tell a friend that I've paid a shed load of money for a Logitech Mouse, but I keep having to stop the process and restart it after I sleep my PC, he goes, tell the company they like feedback like this. How wrong could he be? Very. In the first instance I stuck a batch file on my desktop, a single double click would kill and start the process again. This caused some problems, like I couldn’t detach the process so a command prompt windows left over etc. 

However, with 'Mouseware' version whatever, Logitech went one step better, they decided you won't be able to map the thumb button, default 'back', to double click, you had a number of options available, and double click was no longer one of them. Eventually I worked out it was a bunch of XML files it was using for assignment, so I decided to edit these. Problem was that they were in more than one place, and the changes were never persistent.

I sent Logitech support an e-mail, this was in an age when you could easily e-mail support, try sending eBay one today and enjoy yourself as you are sent around in circles to make sure that there is no way in which you will be able to e-mail them. And they replied. The response was not useful, so I told the support chap that the problem is related to these XML files, could he ask the development team. What followed not only came as a bit of a shock, it pretty much put me off the whole concept of ever asking any support personnel for help. The chap actually became angry and exasperated stating that he doesn’t have access to the developers and can't help me with XML files. The end.

So I've bought Logitech mice over the past 20 years, going from one to the next, and the software, always bug ridden junk that you just have to use. It has improved somewhat, however my G602 using mouseware would often decide to change the resolution to one that then became a pain to use, requiring me to get back to what I was expecting. With the G802 Lightspeed, after some niggles, I am now with a resolution that appears to 'stick' even if I decide to, shock horror, sleep the machine and not restart the whole thing.

Some musings I wrote probably seven years ago that I feel I need to regurgitate. Mouseware’s predecessor, SetPoint I think, over 10 years ago had this fantastic software 'feature' that the software developer(s) (do they have more than one?) at Logitech implemented, namely that you were now restricted in which functions you could assign to a button, and yes, you've guessed it, you could no longer map the double click to the 'back' mapped thumb button. So sorry to be rude, but what matter of insanity, or just plain obnoxious thinking, made them add a feature to limit the use of a product they were selling? Is it a power trip, 'we get to decide how you'll use our product, not you!'? Or is it an example of sheer bloody mindedness, someone in Logitech decided that you should be able to map a button to perform only a particular subset of operations, and went out of their way to remove some of them, when it was easier to just leave them alone, i.e. allow any button to be mapped to any function. Anyway, that's fortunately ancient history, the software hasn't limited assignments for quite some time.

Uber mouse control apparently was written to modify those very XML files I referred to earlier, which I think is now ancient history, no updates since 2015, six years.

I have used HighRez's X-mouse control, and this is just brilliant, if I didn't need to use the Logitech software to customise the illumination and resolution, forget the game customisations they like to push so much as they're of little use to me, this takes care of button mapping that Logitech have failed to in 20 years.

Oh, and here are the e-mails... found them, they have been anonymised:

From: Logitech Customer Support <logitech_us@mailca.custhelp.com>

Sent: 22 February 2007 11:49 AM
To: ***
Subject: Unable to assign double click to button 6, the 'back' button. [Incident: 070203-001749]

 

We have not heard from you concerning your request for support in the 120 hours since we sent you a response. Consequently, we have changed the status of your question to SOLVED.

You can update your question by simply replying to this email, but you must enter your reply in the space specified below:

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Question Reference #070203-001749
Summary:  Unable to assign double click to button 6, the 'back' button. Product Level 1:  Logitech Product Level 2:  Pointing Devices Product Level 3:  MX Revolution Date Created:  02/03/2007 09:51 AM Last Updated:  02/22/2007 03:48 AM Status:  Solved M/N:  M-RBQ124 PID or S/N:  LZ628B4 P/N :  8318690000 Operating System:  Windows XP Logitech Software:  Setpoint Version:  3.10 Downloaded latest SW:  Yes HarmonyFlaskAgentId:
Discussion Thread
Response (***)	02/13/2007 09:59 PM
Dear Furbian, Thank you for your response. Furbian, Logitech does not provide the information on how to change the xml files or how to restore the functions. Besides, I do not have such information with me. In addition, there isn’t any information available to me that I can provide for you to contact the software development team. I do not have the contact numbers or the email address or the contact point. Furbian, please be aware that Logitech Technical Support only provides support for products which are already owned by the customer and are not functioning or are having issues. We are not trained to handle the programming issues. Furbian, if you would prefer to speak to the phone agent regarding your issue, I would suggest that you visit the link below to get the contacts. http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/utilities/contact/US/EN Thank you. Sincerely, *** Logitech Technical Support www.logitech.com/support In United States 702-269-3457 In Canada 416-207-2782 Business Hours: 6:00AM – 6:00PM PST Monday-Friday Disclaimer : Please note that your incident request has reached the AMR Email Support team. We are currently supporting the end-users of Logitech products for America and Canada. If you are currently from a different location, kindly inform us or update your contact details to allow us to submit your query to the appropriate region for more help and assistance.
Customer (Furbian)	02/13/2007 06:57 PM
If your development team don’t communicate via email or phone, is there another way in which they communicate? Let’s just leave the design comments aside. I just want information, i.e. which xml files need to be modified, or what other configuration files need to be changed to restore functionally to your Setpoint software that has been REMOVED. I paid for the product, it wasn’t free, and it is probably the most expensive mouse on the market, and you’re behaving as if I should be grateful to you for the opportunity to buy your mouse, I can tell you that I am NOT. If you are unable to answer this question this question, then what does Logietch’s ‘support’ staff actually do? Answer question like, "How to hold a mouse"? Your SUPPORT is turning out to be akin to talking to a brick wall. The arrogance is also breath taking, i.e. our developers don’t communicate with customers, insulting to customer such as myself, am I some sort of sub-human not worth responding too? Yours in absolute disgust, Furbian
Response (***)	02/13/2007 12:13 AM
Dear Furbian, Thank you for your response. Furbian, I am unable to advise you on this issue as it is beyond my capability and authority. Besides, the development team does not reply or support customer’s requests and enquiries via email or phone. I am sorry that I am unable to assist your further in this issue. Thank you. Sincerely, *** Logitech Technical Support www.logitech.com/support In United States 702-269-3457 In Canada 416-207-2782 Business Hours: 6:00AM – 6:00PM PST Monday-Friday Disclaimer : Please note that your incident request has reached the AMR Email Support team. We are currently supporting the end-users of Logitech products for America and Canada. If you are currently from a different location, kindly inform us or update your contact details to allow us to submit your query to the appropriate region for more help and assistance.
Customer (Furbian)	02/12/2007 06:57 PM
I live in the UAE, so a USA/Canadian refund offer is pretty useless. My message wasn’t read properly, I want to enable software functionality that your ‘software engineers’ have disabled, for whatever reason, I have managed to identify that there are XML files which dictate which button can be assigned which function, so far my edit have not managed to enable ‘DoubleClick’ on the ‘Back’ button. So one of your SetPoint ‘development team’ must know how to achieve what I want to know, and maybe NOT leave disable this feature in a future SetPoint release. Do you actually listen to product feedback, or do you use ‘focus groups’ to decide specifications?
Response (***)	02/05/2007 02:03 AM
Dear Furbian, Thank you for contacting Logitech Email Support. My name is *** and I will be assisting you in this issue as much as possible. As per your email, I can understand that you are unable to assign the double click function to the back button. Please correct me if I am wrong. Furbian, it seems to me that you are dissatisfied with the mouse. If you would like to have a refund, I would need you to contact the phone numbers below as I am unable to process a refund for you: In United States 702-269-3457 In Canada 416-207-2782 Business Hours: 6:00AM – 6:00PM PST Monday-Friday As for the left scroll and right scroll, they should be easy to be depressed. Should you require further assistance in relation to this issue, please feel free to respond at your earliest convenience. Thank you. Sincerely, *** Logitech Technical Support www.logitech.com/support In United States 702-269-3457 In Canada 416-207-2782 Business Hours: 6:00AM – 6:00PM PST Monday-Friday Disclaimer : Please note that your incident request has reached the AMR Email Support team. We are currently supporting the end-users of Logitech products for America and Canada. If you are currently from a different location, kindly inform us or update your contact details to allow us to submit your query to the appropriate region for more help and assistance.
Customer (Furbian)	02/03/2007 09:51 AM
After selecting button 6, i.e. the button assigned as 'back' by default, I am unable to set to double click, even from the 'other->Select Function' list, something I have been doing for the past 10 years with any mouse I have had which has 3rd button. I can see that buttons for scroll left and right can have double click assigned to them, so why not the 'back' button? Very very disappointing to pay this much for a mouse that has in effect had a trivial (from a coding perspective) feature removed. Also the scroll left button is significantly easier to depress then the right scroll button, is this difference supposed to be there, i.e. a feature or a defect? On a general design issue, I have large, not huge, hands, and yet I find that my thumb cannot reach the thumb wheel unless I grip the entire mouse with my hand, which then makes it difficult to move, as I then have to move my whole hand and can no longer rest my wrist on the desk. If I hold it like I did my MX1000 Laser (Logitech) mouse, i,e. wrist on desk, and fingers hold mouse, I also find that my thumb cannot reach the thumb wheel, and the back and forward buttons, though just above my thumb, need for my thumb to be moved up over them to use them. No button lies direct under (or rather to the right of) my thumb by default.
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