Apple Two Button Mouse - Vote Please!!!

[hulkaros]

1st of all: I would like Apple to release something unique and not the usual M$/Logitech 2 button+wheel mice...

Now, the other 1-button mouse things to say: I think that the single click for Apple is something like a trademark... If you are using a single mouse most probably you are using a Mac!

The Mac OS GUI and apps is built from the ground up in order to be used mostly with 1 button! THIS cannot be said for Windows, Linux, et al

For a non-computer person it is A LOT easier to grasp the 1 button VS the multibutton! While a Windows, Linux, et al user may find this stupid (and may as well be), obviously they haven't seen humans, up to whatever age, having problems separating the left from right click and even worse a third click in the form of wheel which is in the middle of left and right!

For advanced users while a multibutton mouse is a must, even they, some times get confused in the storm of their job and click right instead of left and vise versa or their wheel goes too up or too down or zooms in/out out of where they would like to go

The single button mice that Apple produces in the last few years are some of the most enduring mice the computing world ever known! It is SO common to have even the most expensive multibutton mice to have problems but almost NO Apple mice! The problems, I think you multibutton users know them better but here are for the rest of us: Buttons get stack temporary or permanent. Wheels crack. A spill of water, coffee, etc. and the mouse is out of work... A nasty drop or even a simple one from the top of the desk may as well be the end of that multibutton heroic mouse! Not to mention that without doing anything to the mouse, it simply dies

Theoritically, a single button mouse device should not even exist by now, but Apple I think knows better... They just wait the right moment and then they will surprise the world with a unique mouse design or the Speech recognition will replace the mouse before they do that

 

[Cat]

The Mac OS GUI and apps is built from the ground up in order to be used mostly with 1 button!

I don't think this is strictly true ... there is a lot of functionality in the Mac OS X GUI that can be operated with modified clicks (alt-click, cmd-click, etc.) that one mouse button is not enough: you either need the mod keys or extra buttons. Multibutton mice in OS X work instantly and take over the modded clicks naturally. Especially in Safari this is very useful: scroll-click opens a new tab. etc.

THIS cannot be said for Windows, Linux, et al

Wasn't Linux designed for three button mice?

For a non-computer person it is A LOT easier to grasp the 1 button VS the multibutton!

Well, there isn't much to grasp here: in a car you have three pedals, a cloche etc. all with different functionality. That takes just some practice, but doesn't really need an immense IQ to get accustomed with ...

While a Windows, Linux, et al user may find this stupid (and may as well be), obviously they haven't seen humans, up to whatever age, having problems separating the left from right click and even worse a third click in the form of wheel which is in the middle of left and right!

Put me in that crowd. Neither my little brother (11) nor my mother (48) have had any problems at all whatsoever.

For advanced users while a multibutton mouse is a must, even they, some times get confused in the storm of their job and click right instead of left and vise versa or their wheel goes too up or too down or zooms in/out out of where they would like to go

Clearly I'm not an advanced user ... confusing between clicking with one finger instead of the other is lees likely, I must say, than pressing the wrong mod key.

The single button mice that Apple produces in the last few years are some of the most endured mice the computing world ever known! It is SO common to have even the most expensive multibutton mice to have problems but almost NO Apple mice! The problems, I think you multibutton users know them better but here are for the rest of us: Buttons get stack temporary or permanent. Wheels crack. A spill of water, coffee, etc. and the mouse is out of work... A nasty drop or even a simple one from the top of the desk may as well be the end of that multibutton heroic mouse! Not to mention that without doing anything to the mouse, it simply dies

I have used (and am still using) the very same Logitech optical scroll thing for about 4 years without failure. Yopur argument rather applies to the cheap mice that come with the computer per default or to old ball-mice (as opposed to optical). I agree that Apple mice are of high quality, they are not the only ones with high quality.

Theoritically, a single button mouse device should not even exist by now, but Apple I think knows better... They just wait the right moment and then they will surprise the world with a unique mouse design or the Speech recognition will replace the mouse before they do that

Speech recogition will never replace the GUI pointing/input device: imagine an office with 200 computer users... you'd need an insonorized cubicle for each. I suppose Apple could release a mouse with a touchpad-like area for scrolling ... but for the rest this is just fantasy.

Again, I can live without a second button, but not without scrollwheel!

 

[hulkaros]

Originally posted by Cat
blah-blah

Were you arguing with me or I got the wrong feeling? I wasn't arguing with ANYONE for single VS multibutton mice! I just pointed some things about the multibutton mice... If they are facts or not, good or bad, stupid or smart, this or that, anyone can have their cake and eat it too on this matter!

The truth is that Apple has built in support for multibutton mice in OS X as well as single button mice too! For example in Panther we get an Action (right click ) button straight to the Finder toolbar... That clearly shows to me how much Apple likes to keep that single button mice thing going on! 99.9% of GUI actions in OS X can be done with one click VERY easy. Do we the users like that? I for one don't care! As I said, I can work with ANY mice during my OS X work sessions NO probs whatsoever... But me isn't the whole computing world thank God!

Do we like to work with the single button mouse that Apple includes in every Mac sold? Some of us yes, some not, some don't care... After all said and done, it's a Mac thing! Some just cannot get it! ::ha::

PS. I would not be surprised if in the months ahead Apple will release a device similar to a multibutton mouse with a twist or two

 

[MDLarson]

Hulkuros, from what I've seen, you are a true Mac zealot. It's very annoying sometimes...

Based on the polls, the one-button mouse should die, or at least be relegated to a build-to-order option. I bought a few Dells for our work, and was able to choose between a few different brands of mice - Dell, MS, Logitech and maybe some others. When the computers came, I got exactly what I wanted, the first time around. Dell got it right!

I have to buy a one-button mouse if I want to buy a new Mac. If I want a two-button mouse, I have to throw the one-button mouse away. This is stupid - I don't like having to pay for something I'm not going to use.

When people stop into the Apple store, the first thing they touch is the mouse. If they're used to Windows (a large percentage), they will most likely go "Huh? Where's the right-click? That's dumb!" I know this is a big turnoff to many people and whatever negative connotations they may have had about Apple before is perhaps further solidified.

We like to imagine that all the great things about the Mac is obvious enough or prevelent enough so that the prospective Mac buyer is willing to overlook the limited mouse, but it doesn't always work that way.

Is the one-button mouse simpler? Yes. Is it limiting? Yes. Is it a better choice for some people? Yes. I still think Apple should kill the one-button mouse.

On a somewhat related note, I've read online elsewhere that Apple has applied for new patents on some new mouse technologies. So far, I've only read that the one-button mouse is planned to stay, so I'm sure I'll be disappointed yet again when or if this new mouse comes out.

 

[hulkaros]

Originally posted by MDLarson
Hulkuros, from what I've seen, you are a true Mac zealot. It's very annoying sometimes...

It is Hulkaros!



Anyways, I will repeat:
"Were you arguing with me or I got the wrong feeling? I wasn't arguing with ANYONE for single VS multibutton mice! I just pointed some things about the multibutton mice... If they are facts or not, good or bad, stupid or smart, this or that, anyone can have their cake and eat it too on this matter!"

 

[Arden]

That's Hulk for you, a big dumb Mac-loving brute.

I can see some of what he's is saying... my iMac mouse is a Starlogic 8D, and instead of a wheel it has a mini-trackball, which is very sensitive to motion. I often find myself scrolling past something because there are no definitive clicks to tell you that you've just scrolled a single block of lines. But I love the mouse nonetheless; Middle-Right click, and it turns into a trackball, with the optical sensor affecting scrolling!

However, take all the advantages of Apple mice that Hulk described, and apply them to a multibutton mouse, and Apple will have it made. (This computer, the G3, has an ancient optical Mouse Systems 3-button mouse that needs a special reflective mousepad to function, and we've had it longer than this computer!)

 

[ApeintheShell]

I have the two button mouse with a scroll wheel and an old one button apple pro mouse.
To be honest, i can't tell the difference between which does what.

But one complaint I have about multi button mice is my hands hurt. Moving the scroll wheel slowly to get down the page, left clicking and so on.

Ease of use. If your hand is comfortable and it takes one click to finish the task. I'm all for the one button mice.

Remember that one button in the middle of the keyboard on pc laptops? Yeah. It sucks.

 

[Arden]

That was actually a little nubbin that controlled the cursor, still a pain in the ass to use.

 

[mr. k]

I've been using a cheap two button scrollwheel mouse at school, and although control-clicking is jut as convenient as right clicking, having a scroll wheel is very nice for skimming down long documents, web pages and the like. I think if apple made a more advanced mouse though, it would blow most PC mice out of the water, and would be really awesome.
I think that there should be a mouse quite similar to any current apple mouse, but with just sensors that can tell if you are clicking on the right side or the left, and then if you draw your finger down the middle of the mouse it should register a scroll... That would own.

 

[Mat]

Apple should keep doing what they want. If you want a wickid mouse get a Macally mouse. I've got their micro-mouse with 2 buttons and scroll and it's about the size of a matchbox car.

 

[genghiscohen]

Originally posted by pds
One button is nice, two are nicer, two plus a wheel is nicer. Seems you can take your pick. If you like the style, Kennsington has it, if you like the cheap price, macally has it... it's called choice.

Amen to that! I use a Kensington Mouse-in-the-Box Optical Pro, with 5 buttons (counting the clickable scroll wheel). With Kensington's MouseWorks driver, I can also set up chording - clicking two buttons at once for yet more commands.
I can do so many things with my mouse! When I use my wife's machine with the Apple one-button wonder, I quickly get very frustrated.
IMO, Apple needs to offer at least 2-button mice in order to win over more switchers. Either that or put great big stickers on all their machines that say, "Hey, you can use a 3rd-party mouse with this if you want to."

 

[Arden]

Originally posted by genghiscohen
Either that or put great big stickers on all their machines that say, "Hey, you can use a 3rd-party mouse with this if you want to."

Heh, that would be really funny.