Webcams tend to come in various shapes and sizes, often depending upon the whim of a design team.  In the past I have worked with webcams that resemble a large eyeball, a cylindrical tube, and even an Egyptian-style statue.  The latest webcam to emerge from Microsoft hardware department, the LifeCam VX-7000, reminds me of a metallic name badge, especially when viewed from front on, worn by company representatives.

Adopting a black and matt silver colour scheme, the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 7000 is larger than you might normally expect for use with a notebook.  However this increase in size is hardly excessive.  The mouse measures 10.2 x 8.5cm (L x W) and fits comfortably in the hand. You could easily use this mouse as your main desktop pointing device.

The Microsoft VX7000 is 6.5cm wide and 2.5cm tall, the camera is 2cm deep but there is a weighted articulated arm behind this that folds over the top of the panel. It has a 1.35metre USB lead protruding from the back base of the camera. The camera is grey apart from the face that is black with chrome trim round the lens and on the right edge where the inbuilt microphone is. If you add a chromed button on the top you have described everything.

Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 This is the first mouse I have reviewed that comes in its own carrying case, and more than that, it swivels in the packaging so you can view it 360 degrees while still on the dealers shelf.

Microsoft LifeChat ZX-6000 This device was first created for use with a X-Box but have been given a new life to work with a PC. It is stated to work with all flavours of XP or Vista. The base station fits in any USB port it is 6.5x4x1.5cm and it has a 1.7metre lead. The earpiece is chunky by comparison to some but it is comfortable to wear.

As Office 2007 has been available for download or on numerous computer magazine cover discs almost anyone can trial it for sixty days. So this look will not major on what is included. There are various versions but apart from the Basic Student version (Word, Excel, One Note and PowerPoint), there are three other main versions Small Business, Standard and the one I was sent Professional.

Microsoft continue to develop and deliver keyboard and mice products optimised to support their operating systems. In this case I'm reviewing a wireless combination - mouse and keyboard. Keyboard : Wireless Multimedia Keyboard 1.1 First of all the keyboard. This has a standard QWERTY layout and numeric keypad.

Windows Vista The first thing is that there is no manual with Vista - like a lot of other software packages today - help files and even PDF files are not manuals. This is described as a companion and not a crutch. I think this means that while it covers how to, it certainly will not tell you how to use a mouse so you need a working knowledge of Windows.

Let's assume you have 1GB of memory and a graphics card (not an onboard graphics chip) then your system can probably run Vista and also the Aero glass graphics engine. I have been testing such a system and for good measure my tests have been conducted with a 2GB Ready Boost pen/stick drive for additional support. Using such a stick/pen drive is cheaper than additional conventional memory. Only Vista can take advantage of this extra memory.

Normally items labelled 2007 would appear early autumn in 2006 but no doubt most people were working on Vista and Office 2007. So as far as I know it first appeared at the very end of January. The installation was quite quick at only 10 minutes, on my machine it consisted of three parts. First an update to Net Framework, then the complete installation of AutoRoute 2007 and finally a text to speech module.

The setting was the rather new and impressive British Library. Although Office 2007 is stated to work with Windows XP the first proviso is all the new features will only work with documents opened using the new extension. Should you need backward compatibility then it can open documents using the 'doc' extension and more importantly save them in the same way but of course none of the new features will be available.

The Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 is not as outrageous as some non conventional designs I have used in the past. The curve places the main qwerty keys in a slight smile configuration. In fact the main area takes up little more space than a conventional offering. It is a 108 key keyboard with nine extra Internet keys at the top making it a little deeper than a standard unit.

Following the pattern of the last few years, the end of summer is marked by the arrival of several new offerings from Microsoft's consumer division.  This year, as in previous years, hardware is well represented in the form of mice and keyboards.  Microsoft has even come up with a new category of devices with its Comfort family which includes the Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000.