Microsoft Touch Mouse, Wireless Comfort Keyboard annoyance

After a brief, tricky change-over, Microsoft’s Touch Mouse is growing on me.

However, it has an annoying design flaw: The mouse needs its own USB wireless dongle in addition to the one already installed on my PC for the Microsoft Wireless Comfort Keyboard.

Previously the keyboard shared a single dongle with its paired mouse.

You can't configure the older dongle to connect to the newer Touch Mouse, it only works with its dedicated Bluetooth dongle.

There’s no shortage of unused USB ports. That’s not the point, insisting on installing two Bluetooth dongles on a single computer smacks of lazy engineering, which doesn’t inspire confidence in the Microsoft hardware brand.

Microsoft can be over zealous about backwards compatibility when it comes to software, but failing to ensure a newer mouse works with last year's keyboard is an oversight.