Microsoft's Oddball Trackball and other Discontinued Items we Clamor For

Do you really miss the products that you took for granted growing up? Sometimes, manufacturers seem to just pull products from production for no apparent reason. One wonders what their logic might be; you certainly love it, and you suspect that there are millions of people out there just like you. What kinds of discontinued items do you really long for? Let's look at a few popular choices.

Did you grow up with a Honda Civic Wagon in the household? For hundreds of thousands of American households that did, it was about the first station wagon from Japan that anyone saw. And they loved the Japanese production values in an American concept. The Honda Civic Wagon was cheap, reliable and a workhorse. The euphoria was short-lived though. When they took that away and replaced it was the Accord station wagon in the 90s, prices began to creep up. That wasn't what people wanted out of Japan at the time.

For thousands of couch potatoes, Kraft Foods made the ultimate gaffe when they pulled their blue-tinned Planters Cheez Balls off the shelves. Thousands have signed an online petition asking the company to bring them back. For now, you can only get them imported from Europe, available at some special locations.

There are some discontinued items that people have been really longing for decades. Do you remember commercials from the 70s that featured a villainous character called Quick Carl who seemed to have manic-depression for the way he did everything too quickly? Even he couldn't finish Marathon candy bars quickly. Those candy bars from Mars were huge 8 inch hunks of chocolate and caramel and they were lovely. The huge candy bars didn't sell that well though and they pulled the product. But not before they managed to rack up quite a cult following. Now, we want it back.

Perhaps the ultimate in fame among discontinued items belongs with the women's contraceptive, the Today Sponge. When the product's makers, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, decided to pull the product in 1994 because the FDA didn't approve of their manufacturing techniques, there was a huge outcry from women. It was adequately represented on Seinfeld where Elaine buys as much supply as possible and then refuses to sleep with any man who isn't worthy of the use of a sponge that she only has a limited supply of. Thankfully, another company has bought manufacturing rights from the original maker and it is now back on the shelves. Hopefully, Elaine's future boyfriends won't have any trouble.

People don't really find themselves missing products by Microsoft. For people who suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome though, Microsoft's Trackball Explorer was a super-convenient product. It came out in the year 2000 as an alternative to the regular mouse, and sold for $70. But as the regular mouse became overwhelmingly popular, Microsoft decided to drop the oddball trackball. Fans of the product though still clamor for it and pay hundreds of dollars for it on eBay. Perhaps it's about time they brought it back.