“There are a lot of misconceptions about the Macintosh, but one misconception that has persisted is the myth that Mac’s are incapable of using multi-button mice. And those who know this myth is false still complain about Apple not shipping computers with two button mice. Gear Live cub reporter XIcarus wanted to share a bit of background on what many believe to be Apple’s stubborness to conform,” GearLive.com reads.
XIcarus writes, “Apple supports multi-button mice. Right out of the box. Furthermore, this is not a ‘new feature’ of OS X. Support for contextual menus (the primary use for the two button mouse) have been around since OS 8.6, which is now more than seven years old. Let me repeat, Apple supports multi-button mice. Even if you use a one button mouse, you can still access contextual menu through ‘control-clicking’ (Hold down the control key when you click the mouse button)… Although I can envision a day where Apple will ship with a two button mouse, they have really, really, really good reasons for sticking to a one button mouse.”
“Apple is always concerned with creating a user experience that is as intuitive as possible. Giving the average person a right mouse button is like giving a bald man a comb,” XIcarus writes. “Folks, those are the reasons Apple ships a one-button mouse. Will that change? At some point yeah. But Apple is in no hurry to ship something that they believe no one will use.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Welcome to our semiannual Apple one-button mouse article. It’s kind of ironic that when Windows users first see the currently-shipping Apple mouse, the number one question they ask is, “where are the buttons?” In effect, Apple’s one-button mouse has no buttons at all; the whole thing is a button. Of course, Apple may have solved the whole mouse button issue with their Mac mini – no mouse included, just pick your own. For the record, MDN’s favorite desktop mouse is currently a relatively inexpensive (US$39.99) Kensington StudioMouse with the multiple buttons (third button programmed for Exposé tiling (F9), of course) and a scroll wheel. The Apple mouse just can’t cut it. Mac OS X and at least a two-button mouse are a powerful combination.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Macworld Poll: 34 percent say Apple Mac one-button mouse a mistake – April 07, 2004
Why no Apple two-button mouse? – September 17, 2003
The time has come for Apple to ship a two-button scroll mouse standard – June 09, 2003
Should Apple reconsider the one-button mouse? – October 23, 2002