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June 07, 2005
One-button mice
Apple has long maintained that there is indeed a second mouse button on the Apple: it's on the keyboard.
Here's a very typical interaction explaining why this is a smart design choice (from Gear Live):
Me: Right click on “My Computer”
Caller: Right?
Me: The right mouse button
Caller: Oh, okay...Now there’s a menu.
Me: Select “Manage”
Caller: okay
Me: Double click on ‘Device Manager’
Caller: Left or right click?
I like seeing this dialog in written form, as I have had the same experience over and over again volunteer-teaching the web in the Tenderloin.
Posted by bengel at June 7, 2005 07:00 PM
Comments
As someone who has ranted often (and with considerable fury) about Apple's one-button mouse, this dialog does nothing to convince me. It simply supports the notion that the one-button mouse is suited for novices and idiots. These make up just a (smaller and smaller) portion of the computer-using public.
Even if I acknowlege that it *sort of* makes sense for Apple to ship their mass-market iMac with a one-button mouse by default, it still irks me to no end that they don't offer me an Apple-branded two- (or three-) button mouse as an option.
The buyers of Apple's top-end G5s are certainly multiple-mouse-button-competent, and they can easily trade up for a nice Microsoft model. It's the PowerBook users who are screwed.
Posted by: smitty at June 29, 2005 03:45 AM
I'm a PC user, so I also long for a two-button mouse. And I must concede, when I am reading something as opposed to editing something, I often do not have a hand on the keyboard, making the phantom "second button" (e.g., the Control button) significantly more out of reach.
Posted by: Blake at June 29, 2005 11:38 AM