Apple 2 button mouse?

[benixau]

Originally posted by APPLEP58
you'll also be pleased to know that the Apple "pro" mouse also works on a PC just as well, and vice versa for USB mice.

Thats too right. If apple made their own keyboards, then, it wouldn't work with a pc. They would make sure of it. Fujitsu on the other hand, doesnt care. Oh what fun you can have trying to get context menus on a pc with the apple pro mouse attached.

I also personally believe that you can have too many buttons. I have a simple MS wheel mouse optical on the pc and it is plenty. I dont need a button for each app. I can lcik the scroll whell for a third button. The thing is, a basic user, with little computer knowledge loves a one button design. You cant click the wrong one. Context menus are beyond them, they surf, email, use iApps, use Appleworks, maybe play simcity 3000 but not much else. Anyone else who is beyond that*, who uses MS Office and knows a few tricks, most likely knows some or more of excel's functions, and how to (OSX 10.0+) navigate and start an app with the terminal, needs a two button mouse. no question.


*you know your 'beyond that' when you accept that a computer can not make mistakes. Only people make mistakes. Peoples mistakes cause the computer to give out garbage.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by j763
Go buy a logitech and get over it!!!

surely there's something better to discuss than computer mice?

There's no need for rude, useless posting. If you don't have something useful to add then don't post. Some people have legitimate questions and there are a lot more useless dicussions going on then ones about mice.

 

[Fat Tony]

I just purchased Logitech's new MX 500 yesterday at CompUSA. All the cordless 700s were already sold out, but were about 35-40 more dollars anyway. The functionality and shape were exactly the same, so if you don't have the cash I highly recommend the MX 500. It has every possible button you could want (which you can also program through Logitech's downloadable Control Center). Very comfortable too, but they've pretty much screwed any leftys out there...

 

[JSRockit]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
i dropped superca$h for the kensington studio mouse.
it's optical and has a scroll sensor *not a wheel*

it's absolutely out of this world. takes some getting used to, but is very configurable. i enjoy using it, and it goes with a powermac or iMac as far as looks go quite seamlessly. prima, prima, but as i said, much money. 50-60$

I have one too...and love it. I like the Pro Mouse as well. I like that the whole mouse is the button. It is soooo lazy.

 

[benixau]

way cool

When i showed some friends the pro mouse they asked "where is the button?" Oh, that, old stuff, the whole mouse is the button, optical too.
Response: "Cool ....." - continue to stare and now touch and play a little before i tell them that i would rather they didnt use my computer like a toy. (ok ok ok, so i had chess up but still office was in the background ...)

 

[topicolo]

Sometimes I wonder if apple does any useability testing with their products at all--the hockey puck mouse that came with the original imac was the most horrendous thing every made! how does apple expect people to hold that tiny little puck for hours and not get irritated by it?

 

[alex_ant]

Originally posted by Pepzhez
I really don't believe that anyone, including a person who has never before touched a computer, is going to become consternated when confronted with the alleged intracacies of a 2-button mouse. The stubborn committment to the 1-button mouse is Apple's arrogance, plain and simple. It is rather condescending also, i.e. - "computer users can't possibly figure out the use and functions of two buttons!"

I don't really think it's condescending. It's not like Apple is saying, "Let's give our users a nice GUI because they're much too stupid to learn the intricacies of tcsh!" Having one button just makes things a little easier for a good portion of the users Apple is aiming their machines at. However, Apple does recognize that a 1-button mouse is not suitable for everyone, and that's why they support all standard multi-button USB mice.

The real reason that Apple will not be introducing a 2-button mouse any time soon (if ever) is that Apple apps do not take advantage of right clicking, unfortunately. Including a 2-button mouse as a stock item would only highlight a limitation on Apple apps.

Except... they do take advantage of right-clicking. And the scroll wheel. I've never used FCP, but you say it doesn't support any of that - that would be the one Apple app I know of that doesn't, and I would expect that that feature would be coming soon.

Oh, and if you are planning to run *nix apps on OS X, a 2-button mouse is an absolute necessity. I use the GIMP as a Photoshop alternative, and I defy anyone to make much use out of this app if you are using the Apple Pro Mouse. Unless, of course, you enjoy performing approximately 100 control-click operations every couple of minutes.

This is true.

 

[dricci]

Originally posted by topicolo
I wonder when Apple will admit that they were seriously wrong in staying with a single button mouse for all these years?

They won't, because they're not. Apple is doing the right thing by making one-button default... I know several PC users who are scared of their right mouse button, they never even use it unless required.... the beauty of the Mac is that you just need one button for basic tasks, and 2 gives you a little more... But have you ever tried explaining the 2nd button to somebody new to computers? "No. no you can't use it for that, only to get more options... no it doesn't do that." Then they just get a puzzled look on their face and it really slows down the whole learning process of the machine, which should really just be about learning the basics of using a computer, not spending the entire time on Mouse Basics 101.

Of course, I use a 2 button mouse (part of my Wacom tablet) but I have used the Pro Mouse for a long time before I got the Tablet.... It was just easier to have one mouse on the tablet than manage a pro mouse and a tablet at the same time in a small desk area.

Now I wouldn't be opposed to a BTO option for a 2 button mouse, that would be nice for people who really wanted more buttons.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Pepzhez
The real reason that Apple will not be introducing a 2-button mouse any time soon (if ever) is that Apple apps do not take advantage of right clicking, unfortunately. Including a 2-button mouse as a stock item would only highlight a limitation on Apple apps.

What do you mean they don't take advantage of it? I have been using right clicking using the control key on the keyboard since 8.x came out with contextual menus.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by topicolo
Sometimes I wonder if apple does any useability testing with their products at all--the hockey puck mouse that came with the original imac was the most horrendous thing every made! how does apple expect people to hold that tiny little puck for hours and not get irritated by it?

I too initially hated my hocky-puck mouse but after a while I got use to it and eventually learned to love it. I now have a new computer with the new pro mouse and I sometimes miss the hockey-puck because of a couple of reasons. The hocky-puck mouse was really light and very easy to quickly move around also because of it's lightness it glided very easily on almost all surfaces suited for a mouse. The initial problem of having the right side up is just that initial eventually it's just like using a keyboard and knowing where the keys are by the two keys with bumps on them.

 

[benixau]

Originally posted by topicolo
Sometimes I wonder if apple does any useability testing with their products at all--the hockey puck mouse that came with the original imac was the most horrendous thing every made! how does apple expect people to hold that tiny little puck for hours and not get irritated by it?

Uh huh. Did you ever use some of the early IBM mice. Three buttons, over-sized, bulky and purley hopeless. I agree that the puck-mouse wasnt the best mouse ever, but it was easy to use. All you had to do was apply good ergnomic technique and hold your hand above the mouse not rest it on the mouse. simple.

You just didnt like it because it was different. Do you like OSX??? Its different.

 

[GeeYouEye]

Originally posted by crazy_will
if they did make a two button mouse, it would probobly be sold only to pro users, like the editing keyboard was. they could make it programable, or build in with a programable scroll wheel, so zooming in and out or moving forward in a timeline, or something. Most likely not wiht the idea of scrolling long web pages (besides, a lot of scroll mouse users use the directional keys to look at web pages; i know i do!)

While the rest is all well and good, I have to ask: editing keyboard? Apple made an editing keyboard?

To everyone else: The one-button mouse is just fine for me. It serves all my purposes well, and I am hardly a novice user. Any time I need a contextual menu, I crtl-click. It's become second nature at this point. The only reason I would want a multi-button mouse is that you need one to run Maya, even the PLE version. Okay, fine the scroll wheels are nice too.

 

[SilvorX]

lol i never knew a scroll wheel would ever be handy, till i bought my current mouse, and any mouse without a scroll wheel...needs a scroll wheel lol..or somethin similar

 

[shadowfax]

yeah, silvorX, "or something similar." lol

 

[MacBandit]

I would kill for a scroll wheel. Well maybe not quite kill maybe just mame. Severely! Anyway I've been trying to think of some way to hack a scroll wheel off another mouse and stick it on my Apple Pro Mouse. I think that would be really cool.

 

[shadowfax]

you can kill, maim, or severely maim your apple pro mouse, macbandit, and get this... all the style of mac, with a less insulting-to-your-intelligence button layout. it's really a lot of fun to use, and costs about the same as a pro mouse (says 65, i got mine for 60).

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
you can kill, maim, or severely maim your apple pro mouse, macbandit, and get this... all the style of mac, with a less insulting-to-your-intelligence button layout. it's really a lot of fun to use, and costs about the same as a pro mouse (says 65, i got mine for 60).

I don't like the way the scroll sensor works on it or I would have it by now.

 

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by Macbandit
I don't like the way the scroll sensor works on it or I would have it by now.

definitely takes some getting used to. it took me a few hours, but it's second nature to me now, and should be to anyone who gives it a chance. it's like anything else, like going from a 1 button mouse to a 2, from a 2 to a scroll mouse, or from a scroll mouse to a no scroll mouse. the only difference is that in this case you aren't losing funcionality [from a normal scroll wheel mouse], you are changingthe vehicle by which that functionality is delivered. if taste in scroll is all that is holding you back, let me guarantee from experience that you will get used to it very quickly.
but if you are satisfied with your pro mouse such that you can turn your nose at this thing, then there's no real reason to change, right?

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Shadowfax


definitely takes some getting used to. it took me a few hours, but it's second nature to me now, and should be to anyone who gives it a chance. it's like anything else, like going from a 1 button mouse to a 2, from a 2 to a scroll mouse, or from a scroll mouse to a no scroll mouse. the only difference is that in this case you aren't losing funcionality [from a normal scroll wheel mouse], you are changingthe vehicle by which that functionality is delivered. if taste in scroll is all that is holding you back, let me guarantee from experience that you will get used to it very quickly.
but if you are satisfied with your pro mouse such that you can turn your nose at this thing, then there's no real reason to change, right? [/B]

The problem I have with it per what I've read. (I admit I personally haven't used one and don't know of anyone local who has them for sale.) Is that when you touch the pad top or bottom it jumps a page? Is this correct. I want a scoll wheel to go line by line and I don't want it accidentally jumping page to page.