Companies pitch their products to me all the time. They tell me about the great new concept they have, and how it will revolutionize the way computer users and business people act. While most of the products have some unique aspect, they rarely offer the revolution promised by the vendor.

So when I was approached by Designer Appliances Inc., which told me about the company's revolutionary new mouse, I was skeptical. After all, I have used mice from Microsoft, Logitech and lots of smaller vendors as well as track balls, touch pads, thumb wheels and other pointing devices. Each one has its advantages -- and I have found it best to vary the pointing device that I use, because after a while with any pointing device, my wrists and fingers start to hurt. Changing from mouse to trackball for a while then returning to mouse again lets me rest the muscles in my arms and hands -- because they all seem to use different muscles -- and I do a lot of typing.

The Quill Mouse, as Designer Appliances calls it, looks very strange -- like a mouse on its side with a drain next to it. But that's not a drain. It's the place to put your wrist -- because the Quill Mouse is a sideways mouse. According to Tom Large, the designer of Quill Mouse and president of Designer Appliances, it was designed sideways on purpose.

Large suggests that a computer user may be clicking the mouse buttons 2 million times per year and moving it 63 miles in 2-inch increments. He also says the typical mouse position constricts your blood flow and wrist rests constrict it even more, creating a tourniquet-like effect, leading to poor blood flow, increased toxins in these small muscles and the resulting ache.

The Quill Mouse allows you to push the mouse around your desktop without having to grip it, thereby making it much easier to use on a prolonged basis. And it does have a soothing effect on your hands -- at least it did on mine.

At first it felt a bit unnatural to not grip the mouse. I tended to grasp it instead of gliding it as I moved my arm. I also was accustomed to twisting my arm when moving my mouse, which I no longer needed to do with the Quill mouse. But my uneasiness gave way in a couple days as did my tendency to grip the mouse when not moving it. After a few weeks, the ache in my hands from traditional mouse handling started to disappear -- and doesn't usually show up again unless I've been in a marathon computer session. I no longer have to ask my wife to rub my sore fingers. (Is that a good thing? Maybe I should make believe my hands still hurt.)

The Quill Mouse uses optical technology -- which adds to the quality of the product. As with any pointing device there are blemishes. The Quill Mouse has only two buttons and a scroll wheel. I'd prefer five buttons because I program the additional buttons for double-click and click-lock (so I don't have to hold down the button to drag).

It comes in both a right-handed and left-handed version. That's an advantage of which you need to be aware, because it is impossible to use the right-handed version with your left hand or vice versa. So if you have several people using the same computer, make sure you have a second pointing device available -- either a more traditional device or the Quill for the other hand.