On a side note, is the trackpoint (the thinkpad's red nipple) pattented? I know some dell's have it, so I imagine they aren't.
I would love to have third party keyboards with this type of integrated pointer device. That or some sort of tracball, which, by the way, are a great alternative to a mouse. Have been using them for 4 years now and never looked back.
Yeah, that's true, but I think browsers and office software have two fundamentally different purpouses.
You see, a browser, altough surely used in professional settings, is also a broad enough tool that many people can use a lot for a myriad of other contexts. I may browse my work email, but also watch youtube on my free time, scroll through social media, download games, etc....
Now when talking about office suites, the objective is definetly geared towards the enterprises. Sure, you can use Calc as a way to quickly get a shopping list, but that is just the most superficial aspect of the software. In this environment, compatibility should, or even, must, be foccused on. The user doesn't choose exactly what to use, but is forced to work with what his company provides or what works with his company's files.
As such, altough I would love to have more innovation in LibreOffice, I totally understand why they follow a more compatabiliy-focused approach.