On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:13:53 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

Who knows? It may have been done out of house and done by a
consultant, or engineering firm. Most electronics with the microsoft
name can be identified as outside designs.


Now they use other folks' gear and pop their name on it..

Back then, however, everyone's work was all done in house. MS started
as a hardware company, and THEN worked into being pretty much strictly
software. Hardly anyone shopped out design and development work at that
level, and MS went from HW to OSes, and for the longest time, all one
could get from MS was an OS or a mouse.

Later, the keyboards, and other products started in, then the xbox. Of
course a SOFTWARE company like MS is going to have to have other make
their hard products if they want any time-to-market or business efficacy
in the product.

In the early years, as a single entity, they dared not take the chance
that their designs would get stolen by others.