Mice helped by software.
>' remember the ridiculous Logitech NuLOOQ, anyone?'
Logitech ceased supporting it and offered refunds or discounts against the 3D Connexion SpaceNavigator (no surprise, it's a Logitech company). The SpaceNavigator isn't designed to replace the mouse, but supplement it, and is very well supported in the 3D CAD sector.
Though to be honest, a normal mouse with a scroll wheel and a few extra buttons (to modify mouse movement from cursor-move to view-rotate) handles 3D navigation efficiently enough for me, but I'm sure that others find 3-axis pan, tilt and rotate dead handy.
Mice are good, but why are 'pie menus' so rare outside of CAD apps and games? After all, they are quick, accurate, easy to learn because the options are graphically represented, and easy to retain due to muscle memory. Also, they work as well for WIMPs as they do for touch-based UIs...
And on similar note, why do "Are you sure you want to.. ?" dialogue never appear anywhere near my cursor? Almost all software is guilty is this.