Surface Arc Touch Mouse not compatible on Windows 7?

Hi Bill,

Sorry for the delayed response. Are you referring to the Arc touch mouse that has a reference in this article?

If so, I would request you to have a look at the "Note" mentioned at the very end of the article that states that you would require a Windows 8 or 8.1 PC for you to be able to use the device.

If this is the model that you currently own, then it may not work with the Windows 7 laptop. In this case, please get in touch with the Hardware support for more help on the same.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Are you f*#king kidding me??!!??!!!!

A $70 mouse and it won't work with my Windows 7 work laptop???

Here I am with my Surface Pro, using it more and more for work, but with some things that I HAVE to do on my company-supplied work laptop, so unfortunately I still use both.  I'm thinking, 'Would be nice to have a mouse to use with my Surface and of course I could use it with my laptop too' and see this nice-looking Arc mouse that folds flat.  It's $70 for a mouse, but oh well, Microsoft is making some innovative and high-quality accessories now with their Surface line, so I'll mention it to my wife for Christmas.  Use it all weekend with my Surface and loving it.  Get to work this morning and think 'okay, it's a Bluetooth mouse.  I'll just pair it up... let's see now.  Hmm, what seems to be the problem.  Okay, no driver on the laptop.  No problem, search online.  See this post.  WTF!?!  Please tell me there is or will be driver or fix for this.  This is inexcusable.

I really want to see Microsoft succeed and have been a loyal supporter.  But bullsh*t like this is why I am beginning to think Microsoft can try all they want to be like Apple, but sadly, it just isn't in the cards.

It is a Surface Arc Mouse, not a PC Arc mouse, specially made to complement the Surface machines. There is no provision for it to be used with anything but a Surface.

There are similar mice for PC's in general within the Microsoft range. Perhaps you could return the mouse, explaining the predicament and exchange it for a similar mouse which would work on either system type..

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/mice

Mike, the only thing that makes it a Surface mouse is that it says Surface on it and is the same color.  Other than that, it really is just a Bluetooth mouse.  It works with any Bluetooth-enabled Windows 8 PC or laptop, so I don't think it's too much to ask for it to work with Windows 7, an operating system still sold and supported today. 

Not being backward-compatible with a standard technology like Bluetooth, for a high-end product like this is inexcusable.

The Arc touch mouse uses 2.4 GHz wireless via a USB dongle, and I really don't want to use up the one USB port on my Surface Pro for this. My only hope is that a driver for Windows 7 is released sometime soon.

Not so. It is a special edition mouse.. see here..

https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-ca/support/touch-mouse-and-search/touch-mouse

And this is the important part..

Can I use my Surface touch mouse with other PCs?

Yes, you can use the Wedge Touch Mouse or Arc Touch Mouse for Surface with other compatible Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 computers. For more info, see the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility list.

Note The Arc Touch Mouse for Surface requires a Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 PC that’s compatible with Bluetooth Smart Ready.

This is the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility list..

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/CompatCenter/ProductViewerWithDefaultFilters?TempOsid=Windows%208.1&Locale=en-us&Architecture=X64&TextSearch=Surface%2Barc%2Bmouse&Type=Both&CurrentPage=0&TotalPages=1&ShowCriteria=0&SortCriteria=Relevance&Compatibility=Unknown&LastRequested=14

Note the lack of any mention of Windows 7. There will NEVER be a Windows 7 driver for this mouse..