Status Symbols are devices that transcend their specs and features, and become something beautiful and luxurious in their own right. They're things that live on after the megapixel and megahertz wars move past them, beacons of timeless design and innovation.

30 years ago, Microsoft Hardware was born. The Word team wanted a mouse, and so the new group built what's affectionately known as the "Green Eyed Monster," thanks to its dual distinctive green buttons and so-ugly-it's-adorable form. It had a stainless steel ball and gold contacts, and shipped for $200 in 1983 alongside brand new version of Word.

Turns out, those Word guys were on to something. It's hard to overestimate the importance the mouse has had on computing. It allowed for a shift from conceptual, text-based computing to tangible, graphics-based computing. Not only is the mouse vital to modern computers, but it's also remained relatively the same since its inception: you move, a cursor moves on screen; you click, something happens; you right click, something else happens.

Except for one major tweak: the scroll wheel.