Re: So much anger!
Originally posted by reedm007
2 BUTTON MICE LEAD TO BAD UI DESIGN:
This is inherent in windows software design. They assume all users will have 2 button mice, so you often have commands in contextual menus that don't exist elsewhere.
This is only correct to an extent.
1) This is not true of all applications. Not offering a feature on a computer because it
could be used for bad UI design would remove a lot of features from a computer.
2) Some menu options exist
necessarily in the contextual menus. Show me where in Safari is a "download link to disk" or "open link in new tab" menu outside of the ctrl+click menu. Then, assume one exists in the main program menus, and show me how you would point at the link AND navigate the application menus at the same time.
Yes, we can Option+click to perform the "open link in new tab" function. That's even worse. There's NO visual input to guide you to the function - only a memorized mouse/keyboard combination.
1. Give you a 1-button mouse with the computer, but offer a 2-button for sale seperately.
Problem with option 1: People will be pissed that they have to fork over extra money to Apple for a second mouse, and this offers few advantages to APple over allowing you to choose a 3rd party mouse.
This is pretty weak. The OPTION to buy the 2nd mouse would "piss" these users off less than not having the option at all. Just because a scenario is perfect does not mean that it is not better than the current one.
2. Let you choose online in BTO configurations.
Problem with option 2: Inventory. It would be virtually impossible for retail stores (including Apple authorized resllers AND Apple Stores) to know what percentage of users will buy each.
........ what??
By your logic, Apple should never release new products, ever. It's not always easy to gauge what demand for a new product will be. That's still no argument against releasing it and finding out.
3. Allow you to "delete" the mouse from your order.
Problem with option 3: Much like the BTO issue of problem 2, since the mouse is shipped *with* the computer, you still suffer from reseller issues as well as added cost for Apple to *remove* the mouse from your custom order.
They seem to manage fine doing every other BTO option. This never seemed to stop them from offering new BTO options either. Should Apple have not added Airport/Extreme to the BTO options for the same reason? Is it somehow more expensive to REMOVE something from the computer box than it is to ADD an item to the system itself?
Apple could just start shipping all units without mice and require and extra purchase, but you KNOW people would complain about how Macs don't even ship with mice.
Well this is true. Shipping a computer without a component needed for its operation (exception: displays) is a bad idea.
Basically, my point is, I don't see a good solution here.
None of your options had any sort of deal-breaking failure. How do these guys handle the "inventory nightmare" of multiple entries in the iBook and PowerBook line? What about different iPods?
Obvious answer: make replacing the mouse a BTO option. If you can add rather inexpensive things like a Bluetooth module to the physical device itself, you can certainly take a damn 1-button mouse out of a box and throw a 2-button one in.
Also, make a conservative number of 2-button mice available to retailers. Gauge it like you would any other product that people may or may not run out and buy (iSight, etc). Just like ANY OTHER PRODUCT, you make the initial release in fairly low numbers, gauge the demand, and make each next shipment accordingly.
Gawd, if companies were as pathetically helpless as you make Apple out to be, industry would grind to a halt.
Yet ironically enough, I don't think this is even an issue for desktop machines. It's not that freakin' hard to go buy a USB mouse with as many buttons as you'd like, and plug it into the machine. I don't own a desktop Mac yet, but when I do, I'll be plugging a USB optical IntelliMouse into it. Problem freaking solved. If you have to have one that "looks" like the computer, there are some out there as well. If your biggest computer problem is that your mouse doesn't have an Apple logo on it, well......
Where I find the 2-button argument to matter is laptop touchpads. There, you don't have the choice, and yet, there also, your arguments would actually hold water (inventory of 1-button vs. 2-button LAPTOPS would not be fun for anyone, and some sort of BTO option would be pricey).
