not so cool afterall

Remember back in the old days when a computer's mouse used to come with that little ball on the bottom that would make it move? Do those still exist? Are they still sold in stores? I'm not dissing anyone who has one, I'm just reminiscing because I don't actually own a mouse and the only time I'm ever on a desktop is when I'm at school or at work and in both cases they only have the laser ones around. Anyway, that is not the point of the story. Point being that as I was sitting here (at school) I looked over at the laser mouse and thought it was odd that it was sitting on a mouse pad. I thought that a mouse pad was only for a ball-mouse not a laser mouse. So I came up with a hypothesis that someone is just a little slow and doesn't realize that a mouse pad is not needed for this type of mouse. After careful research I realized my hypothesis was incorrect. After trying the mouse on various surfaces (my hand, my laptop, a Kleenex box... just to name a few) I came to find out that the desk the mouse is sitting on is simply too slick for the laser to sensor movement. Therefore there is a good reason the mouse is sitting on a mouse pad (making whoever put it there a very smart individual) and although I would love to explain why the surface of the desk makes a difference, I do not want to bore you with all of the technical scientific details. Now I ask you if these [mice/mouses/whatever the plural of a computer mouse is] are supposed to be so great, why can't they work on any surface? We can put a man on the moon, but we can't make the mouse work without a mouse pad? Not so cool afterall, are we mr. mouse?