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It should be the other way around: the single Apple mouse as an option for kindergarten and granny.

When I switched to Mac, I bought an iBook, and since it only has a one button trackpad, I had to learn the one-button way. It has been a god-send in terms of my productivity. The mouse is the key to slowness, and since a one button mouse sort of forces you to learn keyboard shortcuts, I have suddenly become a keyboard shortcut expert. I have Apple to thank for helping me realize all the productivity I have been missing all these years. So, thank you Apple for sticking to your guns and forcing me to become a better computer user.

PS I know I could have bought a seperate two button mouse if I'd wanted, but I knew there had to be a reason for Apple not going the two button way, so I stuck it out.

It's about friggin time! I hope it comes with a scroll wheel too.

"...I knew there had to be a reason for Apple not going the two button way, so I stuck it out."

hmmm...Stubbornness...

For god sakes, don't justify Apple's weaknesses.

A one-button mouse to remain the default of all Macs???? I don't think so. The one-button mouse has been dead for 10 years. Apple's obstinate position on this has been one of it's greatest blunders. If you want to attract Windows users, you have to CATER to them. Multi-button scroll mice are the standard and are the choice of anyone who uses a computer for games and/or productivity. Using a one-button mouse and a freaking keystroke to pop up contextual menus is counter to Apple's ease-of-use philosophy. Get rid of the damn one-button mouse already. It's insulting to everyone's intelligence. And you Macheads who stubbornly cling to the one-button philosophy, you need to let go and open your eyes. Keep your damn one-button mouse while the rest of us move into the 21st century. The one-button mouse, lack of software, price, and unituitive method of finding and launching apps in OSX are, IMHO, key areas in need of change. If Apple put half as much energy into its computers as it does with iTunes and iPods, we'd be done already!!!

Well said, iMaki. Finally, someone on this board not afraid to at least mention some of Apple's weaknesses.

As a Laptop user, I love the single button design. Using the touchpad I move the cursor with my forfinger and use my thumb to select. On Windows laptops, which I have to use from time to time, I hit the wrong button 50% of the time.

I watch other windows users with laptops and they're either using 2 hands, or they have to stop and look at what button they're about to press. Either way it wastes time.

Please, Apple, retain the single button on laptops, PLEASE!

I won't believe Apple is going to sell a two-button mouse until I see it advertised on their website. Until then, this is all just wishful thinking.

How can something be "nearly more"?

You wanna know why I like the two button mouse with a clickable scroll wheel? PORN PORN PORN. I couldn't imagine clicking through porn with a one button mouse. PORN speaks volumes more than any Mac fan about why the one button is better.

There's your answer to a good reason why the two button mouse with a clickable scroll wheel is better. PORN surfing.

i think it is funny that the same people who want apple to switch to a two-button mouse because it is "standard" would barf if someone used that same argument to propose that windows is better than mac os x.

google desktop search is windows only... so why are there ads for it on a mac site?

All the whiners that are perpetually screaming for Apple to switch to a two-button mouse are the SAME people that shouted-down the iPod owners that prefer FireWire to, 'Buy the damn FireWire cable if you want one!'.

Google might help you in your education as to why Apple PATENTED the one-button mouse, and how the 'only-choice-available for the WinPC', the' two-button mouse' never actually had a purpose until MS added contextual menus to their 'OS'. In other words, a problem found a solution!

Please, try to think of the 'control-click' as though you might - by pressing the Shift Key you turn the 'e' into an 'E'. What you want everyone to have is two UNLABELED keys for both the 'e' AND the 'E'. Seriously consider that. (Ask call-center employees how confusing this is to many, many people. Mostly Windows customers!)

Apple, as do many of Apple's customers, thinks the separation involved makes for better memory muscle.

Apple's way: Shift-e becomes E.

OR...

The way you want everyone to tolerate: Left button is e and Right button is E. Or is that left is E and right is e? Remember, that the keys are infact UNLABELED.

Catching on, yet?

Anyway, if you don't like the Apple provided USB2 cable...Ooops, I mean the one-button mouse, then you could always buy a damn two-button mouse!

Oh, and game players that keep hammering your 9-button-mouse line.

It's called GameCube, or PS2. Check into it.

Jeez, even an XBrick.

When exactly did it begin to make sense to spend $1000-1500 to play games? Is it spacebar that shoots or the s-key? Or the third of 9 mouse buttons? D'oh, I've got an email coming in!

If I were Apple I would make a multi-button (scroll wheel please) just for the Apple stores. You finally get the opportunity to have the typical windows user come in to check out your product and the very first thing they touch is something that they are generally not familiar with. The Apple mouse isn't even a one button mouse it's a zero button mouse.

iMaki re: the functional reasons why to use the multi-button mouse.

Maybe Apple, in a fit of benevolence is keeping the after market for mice "alive" so to speak. An aftermarket is good. It "cost" them nothing.

Oh, and if they did have a 2 button mouse, most of you would buy your favorite anyway. After all they probably wouldn't be able to design the perfect mouse. If there were companies making aftermarket mice for the Mac.

mw soviet.

Who cares about buttons, it's the clicks that count.

Walk into most any office running the standard outfit of cubicles and Windows PCs, ask 10 users what "right-click" means, and 7-8 of the 10 won't know. And two-button mouse has been standard on Windows for what, 20-eleven years?

Most users don't know what "right-click" does and don't have much of an understanding of "context" information. That's Windows users.

For Mac users, grab 10 of the average users (not power users, not those of us in the media, not instructions, but "average Mac users") and ask them what "control-click" does on their Macs.

Again, 7-8 out of 10 won't have any idea. It's not that those users are stupid, it's just that a "click" is what's important to them, not all the "fancy" things you can do with a mouse.

That being said, I use a Microsoft two-button, scroll-wheel Explorer mouse. It's great. I'd like Apple to make one like it, 'cause I'd rather have the money go to Apple (sorry, not buying the "wireless" hoopla) instead.

Why do I use a two-button mouse? Because I know how, I use the Mac much more than the average computer user, and I look for things to help productivity.

Most Mac and Windows users don't. They simply "click" to get things done.

Tera Patricks
Mac360.com

There clearly are those here that do not understand Apple's reason for using a one-button mouse. I'm surprised that the idea of elegant interface design holistically is lost on these Mac "enthusiasts". For certainly only enthusiasts are reading and posting on this site.

When a major minority of users have one button, then designers must think of those users when designing the interface. This forces them to think about elegant user interface design.

You may have noticed that Mac programs usually sport better interfaces than Windows counterparts. That's not just because the Mac is "superior" it's a mindset that Apple doesn't want ot lose, and I don't want programmers to lose it either.

That said, I think Apple should support a UNIX-stlye 3-button system where the third button pastes selected text and where window focus follows the mouse, but ONLY as an option. It would confuse the heck out of my mom, but appreciate the ease of use when it came to moving data around multiple programs and windows.

I also wish Apple was consistant in the way they supported drag and drop text. Lately I've been quite frustrated when I select text in TextEdit and try to move it, only to have it create a new selection instead. What gives Apple?

MW: Wall - as in, MS has hit a usability wall and should throw Windows out and start again, just like Apple did with Mac. Will they? I bet they will, right after longhorn flops.

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Here's how: you need to go and download PithHelmet, which blocks all ads in most mac browsers. It is a great piece of software, and removes all sorts of ads that are normally difficult to get rid of.

Combined with the Safari Popup blocker, you will see almost no ads.

It is fully customizable, and is easy to add new sites to the already extensive ban list.

Download PithHelmet Ad Blocker

From what I was told by the guys doing Digital video when I was studying graphic design is that a lot of menus and features in Maya and the other DV editing software (most of which have been or are being ported over to Mac) have menus built around the 4 button PC mouse. Although I dont actually use any of the software myself so i cant comment on the accuracy of the comments from waht I have been told is that it is somewhat harder to do the same stuff on a Mac using the keyboard, but that may be down to the user being more familiar with the PC versions than the Mac versions.
Cheers

"For god sakes, don't justify Apple's weaknesses."

You do realize what site you're on, don't you?

The only people that crave a multi-button mouse are the "switchers" from the Wintel world that refuse to let go of their archaic PC habits. They insist that the rest of us, mainly Mac users/supporters from day-one, adopt and follow their old ways. NEVER!!

Wintel slugs NEED a multi-button mouse because Windows' menus are difficult to navigate and the menu commands are accessed the easiest via contextual menus via the 2nd mouse button. Rather than simplifying their menus, Microsoft complicated things further with a second mouse button to access a shortened menu.

Apple does NOT need to do any "feverish research" to make a 2-button mouse. I am quite sure they have many such relics from the 1980's engineering team sitting on shelves they could dust off and manufacture. But, Apple chooses not to. Why? It is simple; it is simplicity.

I have no doubt that Apple's constant strive towards simplicity combined with their long experience with 64-bit machine code will soon produce a mouseless Mac OS; one that responds with a 99.999% accuracy to spoken words, and even nonspoken sounds such as tapping for those unable to speak. This was made evident (to those of us not too busy crunching on a 2nd mouse button) when Mac OS X 10.1 reworded some of the menu items so they did not sound the same when spoken ("Print Setup" became "Page Setup" so the Mac wouldn't go running off to "Print" before the user could say "Setup").

If you need an example of your Mac's built in intelligence, highlight the following lines and have your Mac speak them (in the menu Safari > Services > Speech > Start Speaking Text)...

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The dump was so full, that it had to refuse more refuse.
3. We must polish the Polish furniture.
4. The soldier decided to desert his dessert, in the desert.
5. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
6. I did not object to the object.
7. They were too close to the door to close it.
8. Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.
9. How can I intimate this, to my most intimate friend?  
10. It's time to wind down the wind farm.

I don't think it will be in OS X Tiger, but an accurate and intelligent speech recognition interface would be enough by itself to introduce an all new OS 11.

Mac doesn't even need a ONE-button mouse... Hell, they don't need ANY stinkin' mouse!!

I don't understand the big demand for the 2 button mouse. Nor do I understand why people control-click on their Macs. I just simply hold my one button mouse down for a brief second and the context menu pops up. For me, it is much simpler to use than right clicking or left clicking on my PC's two button mouse. However, there are times a scroll wheel would be nice.

I use a Kensington Turbo Mouse Pro Trackball with 11 buttons so I think you can guess my opinion. Apple offers multibutton mice by other manufacturers in their online store so it only makes sense that they offer a alternative in Apple Mice. All my one button Apple mice are gathering dust. I agree for beginners it might be nice but people aren't beginners forever.

What will happen with laptops though? It always bugs me to have to go to one buttoning when I am on the road. The Powerbook 170 I owned had two buttons but I believe they both just did the same thing (and were not left-right but rather were upper-lower). Apple should offer two buttons in its laptops too - maybe it could have them both do the same thing usually and let you reset it in system preferences for basic users or people who prefer just one button (tho rare they are out there).

The Powerbook 170 also had a trackball rather than a touchpad and I MUCH preferred it to trackpads (trackpads, in my opinion, suck). I wish they would go back or offer an option (but that is probably just me - I got hooked on trackballs by Missile Command way back when)

huh .. mouse sales are lagging?

probably because mac mini users already have a mouse.. and mac users have one too...

*shrug

i'm glad apple is doing this, though... it would be kind of annoying if people thought apple was in the stone ages cuz they had one button

http://www.dvforge.com/themouse.shtml

WHY RE-INVENT THE WHEEL. LET MACMICE MAKE SOME MONEY.

'MacBuddy' sounds disturbingly like Bill Palmer. In any case, neither Palmer nor 'MacBuddy' are friends of Apple, or the Mac line. They both want Apple to fail - hence the hatred of anything new and different.

Two button mice are a smaller leap than M68k -> PPC.
Two button mice are a smaller leap than [kludge] -> PCI.
Two button mice are a MUCH smaller leap than [kludge] -> OS X/BSD/NeXT.
Two button mice are a smaller leap than computers -> consumer electronics (ever heard of iPod?).
Two button mice are a smaller leap than . . . fill in the blank.

I'll never understand why Mac zealots freak out whenever Apple does something different.

there's no previlege frame of reference people. so try to see others point of view as you would like others to see yours.
to some mac fans apple can do no wrong... come on be objective.

i think it's funny that people think button+click (was it ctrl+click ar apple+click or maybe option+click) is easier than right-click.

right hand/left hand... ride side, left side... confusing? for spacially challenged perhaps.

In addition, when you want to use a KVM with the Mac box, as advertised on the website, one-button mice suck with Windows.

looking down at your keyboard, figuring out which ctrl-key to use... and then clicking with the mouse?

Please, the mouse is a visual feedback thing, which shouldn't require input from the keyboard to function properly.

how am i going to surf with a sandwich in my hand?

and what about the war amputees?

Let's face [Magic word] it, apple doesn't do the two-button mouse for ONE reason... sales of the one button mouse would massively slow down and it would mean that they were wrong to have forced it on their users for so long. Ego. Pride.

If a ONE button mouse was so great, there wouldn't be any need for ctrl-Click to exist... as ctrl, basically adds... lo' and behold a mickey-mouse patchwork version of...

right-click.

Requiring two-hands, one of which has 101 keys to choose from and one is just a click is not easier than changing fingers.

and using the 'e' vs. Shift 'E' is a silly comparison... as one rarely types with one hand (keyboards, unlike mice, require two hands, and you don't need to click your mouse to get a capital, now do you?)

Imagine that... for every capital, you had to click your mouse... that would be fun, wouldn't it?

Sergio,

It you want to kill the pop-ups, you can do the following:

- If using FireFox, use the Adblock extension. It works wonders.
- If using Safari, open the activity window, and add the domains that offend you to your /etc/hosts file and send them to 127.0.0.1.

Works pretty well for me.

The one-button mouse has to stay as standard. Why? To ensure that the software developers continue to make all selections available through menus per good UI design.

I was using Popkin Software Architect on a PC this week (it was torture looking at the XP's drab gray and last millenia default fonts). Anyway, about 35% of operator choices can't be found on regular menus - you must use right-click to find it. What a mess!

['MacBuddy' sounds disturbingly like Bill Palmer.]

Do I win a prize? Do the others that have the same POV - regarding THIS particular issue - also win prizes for being Apple Enemies?

Thanks for proving that many folks never actually read or certainly never TRY to understand Apple's argument FOR a one-button mouse. And almost never offer a 'reasoned argument'.

The ad nauseum appeal for this makes NO sense. Perhaps you could do as you shouted for the 'FireWire Crybabies' to do, 'Just buy the one you want!'

[In any case, neither Palmer nor 'MacBuddy' are friends of Apple, or the Mac line.]

So, although I've been using Macs since June 1984, and I (and others) suggest that Apple is correct in 'staying the course' with the one-button mouse - because of ALL the REASONS that 'you' CHOOSE to ignore - you regard me an enemy of Apple?

Remember what Steve said; Microsoft doesn't have to lose in order for Apple to win. Well, Apple doesn't need to 'throw away all of the important things that make the Mac a Mac' in order to claim the 21st century.

[They both want Apple to fail]

If by succeed you mean that Apple must become Microsoft, then yes I, 'MacBuddy', want Apple to fail - at becoming Microsoft. I really would like to see folks - like you, cheer more for Apple when they act like Apple. Your insistence that Apple become Microsoft is disheartening. Maybe Ford could do better in their market if they started selling Korvettes and Mountie Karloes, and Pepsi could do better if they sold Pepsi Classic.

[hence the hatred of anything new and different.]

New, doesn't always mean better. Have you forgotten: the Apple logo in the center of the menu bar; or many other 'improvements' that Apple later changed? Too bad.

[Two button mice are . . . fill in the blank.]

...available from 3rd party suppliers (a feast of scraps?) for those that think they need them and choose to buy them?


[I'll never understand why Mac zealots freak out whenever Apple does something different.]

Yes, you also don't seem to understand why Apple CHOOSES to keep 'some things' the SAME. That my friend seems to be the difficulty.

-

Oh and, appears as though - perhaps due to some sort of computer generated schizophenia - it's possible for me to be a 'MacZealot' and a 'AppleEnemy' in the same moment!

[MW: Daily.] We all must endure the daily plea for an Apple two-button mouse.

There will NEVER be a 2 button Apple mouse. Mark my words! I am never wrong!!!!! You people are idiots!

And even if Apple puts out a 2 button mouse, it will not sell at all!!!!

Bow down before Bill Palmer the Mac God who knows better than you!!!

MY magic word is "race"

So should I "race" out and get a 2 button mouse, or is my "race" just better than yours?

Oops, did I say that out loud?

I'm not sure the One or Two button mouse should be that big an issue, Mac OS X supports both anyways, buy and use what you prefer.

I DO think the scroll wheel is essential, and more important that the extra button.

And no, I'm not some windows user, the PB 17 I'm using now is my 6th Apple Computer, since my 1984 Apple ][e

Two-button mice on a Mac would be a step backwards into the 1980's world of complex user interfaces.

Universal keys and buttons such as the Function Keys are more confusing and offer very little additional assistance unless you have a particular function in a particular location that you use frequently. We should be moving towards FEWER keys and buttons, not more; greater simplicity not greater confusion.

Rather than spending your time trying to convince the world to stay in the past, why not spend that time thinking of better and easier ways?

Apple has been hiding a MAJOR feature of Tiger. Gates will scream in anger and cry in pain. You'll see it in April.

I checked out some Apple Patents a while ago and found that Apple had patented an iPod style solid state scroll wheel for mice... maybe this will be the two button mouse we've been waiting for...

dang!! just use what works for you...!!!

Scroll wheel would be nice.

Most people have no concept of what the second button does. I support 60XP users, and over half cannot even grasp the concept of single click vs double click. They double click every goddamn thing on the screen, web links, toolbar buttons (which remember the second click and apply it to whatever pops up underneath the cursor...this is custom software not the windows toolbars). These people have no idea what the other mouse button is for, and asking them to figure it out is excruciating.

You should really give these people back their pens and pads, nra1871.

That certainly would make my life easier. The point is the vast majority of the public (those who use IE, Word, Excel, Outlook Express and pretty much nothing else) don't grasp the concept of the multi buttons. They don't learn how the computer works, they memorize a few specific keystrokes and mouse movements, and thats it. Someone one time told them to click here and then here to accomplish something, and any deviation from that has them calling for help. Trying to get them to figure out the right button is painful

Well, I've read reasons why power users want a two-button mouse. (Great. Go buy one!) And I've read reasons why Apple still need to only offer a one-button mouse.

Apple KNOWS that not ALL of their customers are 'power users'. This is why the OS supports multi-button mice, but why they continue to only offer one-button mice - with systems.

Newbies need time to become Nerds, then they can CHOOSE to 'upgrade'.

My 'Feast of Scraps' comment in an earlier post, addresses these 'upgrades'. Apple hopes these upgrades will be met by after-market suppliers, (or leaves them deliberately to be met - depending on your POV.)

Cheap price and now 2 buttons. Game over.

0, why those google ads? Think hard. But don't hurt yourself.

No popups on a this pc running firefox btw.

I love how every post violetly defending the one button mouse whenever a poor review of a mac came out with "reason #1 why you don't get a mac is because of the one button mouse" has turned into a violent defense of the two button mouse that Apple hasn't even released yet. I myself don't really care. I like the great look of an unbroken line of the current mouse but I grew up on PC's and used the second button a lot. I don't, however, miss the second button enough to buy one for my current Mac.

Hey SkyyBlue - I too freak out about the vocal powers of my OS. I can walk into my office and say "Computer, get my mail" and it does. Too cool. Still not seamless enough to be 100% functional, but I bet with a faster OS on a faster computer the processing will break down my spoken word into commands with true accuracy.

macbuddy et al.

i am a longtime mac user. they're the only type of computer we've had in our house since before i was born (although i do have a pc laptop now... one of my stupider decisions)

shortly after i bought MY first mac, i went out and bought myself a GOOD mouse. i've actually always been amused by this, because it's a wireless microsoft intellimouse explorer - and it's a wonderful accompaniment to my computer. (it does amuse me that the only thing i use by windows that consistently works is hardware, but that's another story...) keep in mind that i'd grown up with the single button mouse.

a multi-button mouse simply offers far greater functionality than any single button mouse can.

in the end, this is a matter of personal preference, though. i think most "power users" will find that a multi-button mouse is preferable, but it really doesn't matter to me.

all i know is that i think it's a good idea for apple to make a multi-button mouse. i do think it should be optional, but whatever they end up doing, people will still buy macs.

MDN magic word: "lead" as in, "Apple doesn't always lead the way..."