MultiButton Mouse?

Not that it matters much to me as I usually end up buying a third party trackball for my desktop but I think its a good change. Wonder though if Apple will make this the one and only mouse for all desktops or will they sell it as an option?

What about the laptops, will they get a second button?
Control clicking can be annoying at times.

Well, a multi-button mouse is very un-mac-like, but it would certainly help PC users with the switch... most are lost without being able to right click on something.
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longtime listener, first time caller.

Another hint at new apple mouse?

If you look at the mouse control panel for the developer release of Jaguar (at least the one I've seen) there is a control for 'Scrolling Speed' right under 'Tracking Speed'. I know Apple could be just catering to 3rd party mice, but even acknowledging that users might not be using their mice is interesting.

Originally posted by Jam
Well, a multi-button mouse is very un-mac-like, but it would certainly help PC users with the switch... most are lost without being able to right click on something.

Click to expand...

I've heard of a phsycollogical problem that PC people have after buying a mac, they have such a strong need to right click something they go crazy and start spinning in circles for weeks of months.

My dream mouse

My dream mouse has 4 buttons, a scroll wheel, is optical of course, and uses bluetooth. I'm hoping someday soon I get it standard.

As someone who's made the PC>Mac switch, the lack of a right button doesn't annoy me as much as the lack of a scroll wheel. Having to move back and forth to the scroll bar all the time was adding to RSI (yeah, I ended up buying a 3rd party mouse.)

A single button mouse with a wheel would suit me just fine. Right clicking is largely a kludge for not having the information there in the first place.

I think it should happen, and I think that it is going to happen.

10.1.5 has increased support for multi-button mice in the core, which is great since I use the 15$ logitech optical 3 button instead of my promouse, never had to do anything except plug it in.

The one button mouse is kind of useless, but pretty, now if apple can make a two button with wheel that fits the form design, I might buy it, but eighty doillars for a one button mouseis ridiculous

who cares

Originally posted by stoid



I've heard of a phsycollogical problem that PC people have after buying a mac, they have such a strong need to right click something they go crazy and start spinning in circles for weeks of months.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I have heard of that... I saw one guy do it so fast he caught fire.
Anyway, am I the ONLY one who could care less about a second button or scroll wheel ?

I still live in hope that Apple will make a graphics tablet........

That'd do nicely for all the new post software coming our way......

Yeah, and 3D software.

iBook, Mac OS X and Kensington mouse

I bought a Kensington two-button mouse with scroll wheel for my daughter to use on our iBook (she's 3, didn't expect her to operate a trackpad).

It worked out of the box, no Kensington drivers to install. Right button produces a cntl-click and the scroll wheel works great.

Personally, I really like the scroll wheel and it now hard to use a mouse that doesn't have one.

I love mac but you have to admit that Apple mouse is not the best one out not to mention the price. Having a second button is just simply comfortable, its not a strange quirk for PC people. Having a programmable 3rd button is also very very comfortable, not to mention a scroll wheel.
I wish there would be a way to order a Mac without a mouse and save some $, I would buy a 3rd party mouse anyway.

i still say one button is fine. if you want to do a scrollwheel do the same mouse with a scroll at the thumb. that is...on the side. that would rule. if they wanted to, apple could make the scroll a button like mose mice have and use that as a right click.

I think a mouse in the same design as the current one, but with a scroll wheel sticking out the centre that can also be clicked would be the best option- then you would cover all bases without spoiling an otherwise good design.

Actually, I need a three button mouse. I have X-Darwin running constantly at work, and as the middle button is used as CMD-v (paste) in *nix-land, the center button is critical.

I love my Logitech optical scrolly mouse. It does the job so well, I bought one for work and home..

Yeah...spymac

sure spymac is known for their accuracy. what a joke.

Re: who cares

Originally posted by Moonlight


Yeah, I have heard of that... I saw one guy do it so fast he caught fire.
Anyway, am I the ONLY one who could care less about a second button or scroll wheel ?

Click to expand...

On my laptop which I use mostly for internet a single button trackpad is fine for me.
On my desktop though I upgraded to a trackball with multiple buttons for work on stuff like iMovie. Makes it easier to assign those keys.

I find it very unfortunate that developers just add things to the mouse (extra buttons, scroll wheel etc.) instead of really making the UI work as 'naturally' as possible. I mean what next, foot pedals to maximize/minimize windows ? Why do I need a scrollwheel on my mouse ? Why can't I just grab the 'surface' of any document (where there is no text for example) and drag it up down indefinitely ?

I use 3D apps on PC every day, and yes, a 3button mouse is a big help. But I always have to press another button (or more) on the keyboard as well to zoom/pan/rotate...so what is the point ? Wouldn't it make more sense to have a dedicated 3D input device (like wacom tablets for 2D) for that kind of work ? I know, there is the 'spacemouse' and others, but it is very difficult to get good drivers, even for mainstream apps...

rant over.

pro-mouse

This would be welcome evolution. I think the more AAPL loosens up their necktie about UI and the like, the more convenient things will become for us users, no matter how counter-intuitive or "GUI guidelines" that exception may be.

It will look cool at the very least.

Re: My dream house

Originally posted by Eslyjah
My dream mouse has 4 buttons, a scroll wheel, is optical of course, and uses bluetooth. I'm hoping someday soon I get it standard.

Click to expand...

My dream house has 4 rooms, a scroll towel, is optically pleasing of course, and uses bluetooth to turn on the lights. I'm hoping someday soon I get it standard. ;cD

Even if Apple does not start shipping two button mice, I am glad that they do have contextual menus accessible from a right mouse button (or cmd-click). For instance, I always right-click to create a new folder. Shift-cmd-N is much more of a pain in the ass, escpecially since my hand is almost always on my mouse when I want to create a new folder, since I probably had to click to get where I wanted.

OTOH, in the Application folder, I almost always use the keyboard to find what I want (by pressing the first letter of the App I want, using the arrow keys to select the app and hit cmd-o

As for the scroll wheel, yes, grabbing a document and pulling it along can be nice, but I prefer a scroll wheel, particularly with macrumors.com. There is less things involved with repetitive movement using the scroll wheel as compared to moving your wrist around to drag a page. I use a computer all day long, want to avoid RSI.

Go Apple, add preference support for multiple button and scroll wheels to the mouse control panel. Logitech makes my favorite mouse, but the driver options are pretty sad.

C'mon Apple, release a three button mouse - then I can ditch the Micrsoft one I'm using at the moment...

Anyone thinking that a one button mouse is good enough is being blind to other uses. I was into Macs for a long time and found having a two button mouse for Amigas as well as PC's were superior as long as they were implemented properly. The Amiga struggled on that but depended on the app. Windows since the 95 days has been much better.

Now for someone like my parents who are not very computer literate a 1 button mouse works well but for someone who works towards efficiency a two button or better is the way to go. I've used a Kensington Turbomouse on Mac, Expertmouse on a PC, and MS Intellimouse Optical and love having 4-5 buttons to use and program.

As long as the option is there for either one, I say bring them both on.

this doesnt really have much to do with the two-button mouse issue... but i was wondering if it was true... A sales guy at The Wiz told me that Apple was the company that originally used the mouse with their computers... he also said that Apple created Windows and M$ stole it...