Much thanks to all those who replied! I went over to Microsoft's site and d/led the driver, and the side buttons are working like a charm now 
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How to fully utilize a 5-button mouse?
- Thread starter MegumiFX
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No mouse uses AirPort - that's used for networking. The best wireless mice use Bluetooth, which will require a USB bluetooth device if you don't have it built in to your computer (You have bluetooth built in on any Aluminium PowerBook G4 or any new Mac BTO with the internal bluetooth module).Tomaz said:
Some wireless mice use radio waves via a small USB adaptor - what you are no doubt referring to - but this is not compatible with AirPort. I'm not sure what protocol the mice mentioned here use, but I know that Microsoft and Logitech do make a Bluetooth mouse, just like Apple does (1 button though).
nmk said:
i don't care what steve jobs thinks, but I MYSELF find one button being enough. and i'm glad apple thinks so also, because sticking to one button forces them to make better interfaces.
I think a 2 button mouse with scroll wheel is great - then things start to get too comploicated IMO. However, I DO actually have the Apple Bluetooth wireless mouse and I think it works greatJFreak said:
I have a graphics tablet with 2 button mouse too but I haven't bothered to plug it in for 2 weeks...
JFreak said:
I agree. I love my 5 button mouse on my PC, but on my PB, it just seems unecessary. I love the one button mouse.
JFreak said:
I think Steve Jobs agrees with you.
Can use OS X with one mouse button = TRUE.
Can use OS X with 2+ mouse buttons = TRUE
Can use Windows with one mouse button = Uhhhhh, clickity clickity clickity right, left, right, left.... so is the one mouse button the left one or the right one?
There you have it, OS X is mouse button scalable from 1.
-Wyrm
johnnyjibbs said:I think a 2 button mouse with scroll wheel is great - then things start to get too comploicated IMO. However, I DO actually have the Apple Bluetooth wireless mouse and I think it works great
I think you have a good point, I would absolutely MISS the scroll wheel the most over the second button. That, I think Apple is missing out on (even though they have some weird patent for a scrolly thingy - none of their mice have it). I mean how many times do you empty the garbage, eject a device, set file info junk, or close a konfabulator app, etc?
I'd have to disagree with you on the Bluetooh mouse, which I also bought... mainly because it doesn't have a scroll wheel doohickey. I've gone back to a USB Microsoft Intellimouse... aiiieeeeee
-Wyrm
I really hope that Apple use the Pro line excuse to break with tradition and bring out a cool Pro Apple Mouse with multiple OSX fully configurable buttons, a scroll wheel/touch pad, a BT wireless build, and on/off switch. I month to go to WWDC
aswitcher said:
Oooohhhh.
Exactly! "think different" Apple... having one mouse button since the Mac 1 rev A sounds more like thinking about the same.
-Wyrm
Argh! There is no reason for Apple to come out with a "pro" mouse. Just about anyone I know who gets a mac goes out and buys a new mouse. Why? Because there are sooo many choices and they all want something different.
2 button? 3 button? 12 button (ok not really)? Cordless? Optical? Trackball?
The only reason I can see for Apple coming out with something other than the basic one-button that you need to run a mac would be if they had something to improve upon the mice already out there. Until that happens, why should they waste money and resources and time? Its not like we are lacking in good third party mice.
2 button? 3 button? 12 button (ok not really)? Cordless? Optical? Trackball?
The only reason I can see for Apple coming out with something other than the basic one-button that you need to run a mac would be if they had something to improve upon the mice already out there. Until that happens, why should they waste money and resources and time? Its not like we are lacking in good third party mice.
Wyrm said:
when everyone else seems to think about how they can change their mice even more uglier, isn't it thinking different when apple seems to think how it can keep its mouse design simple and beautiful?
i got a mickeysoft intellimouse optical, and when i configure the buttons with the intellipoint tool something funny happens. i assigned internet back/forward to button 3/4 and each time i hit the buttons in safari, safari takes me to some random page i visited in the past. this is a very nice feature, but it has a minor glitch.... you can't turn it off. has anyone had the same prob?
USB thingy or not
Way back in this thread, someone asked if you had to use the USB-adaptor-plug-thingy, or if you could just disregard that piece of equipment and use the bluetooth mouse with the built-in bluetooth in the computer. I still wonder about that. There's a good BT mouse on sale here, but I see the suspicious USB thing in the package, and don't want to have to take up a USB outlet with mouse droppings .
So - can I just leave the USB thing in the package, and use the mouse with my built-in bluetooth?
Way back in this thread, someone asked if you had to use the USB-adaptor-plug-thingy, or if you could just disregard that piece of equipment and use the bluetooth mouse with the built-in bluetooth in the computer. I still wonder about that. There's a good BT mouse on sale here, but I see the suspicious USB thing in the package, and don't want to have to take up a USB outlet with mouse droppings
.So - can I just leave the USB thing in the package, and use the mouse with my built-in bluetooth?
JFreak said:
Simple, yes, beautiful, sure, less useful, yep.
Not that I'm up in arms against Apple, but given the choice of an Apple 1-button simple mouse, or a mouse with a scroll wheel... I'll take the wheelie!
I'd hope Apple would address this, but since there are alternatives it's not high on my wish list... and probably not on Apple's either.
-Wyrm