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Why Apple Makes a One-Button Mouse
IdiotOnMyLeft writes "There is a short article at Gear Live that tries to explain why Apple still sticks with a one-button mouse. It points out the fact that although it is perfectly possible to use a two-button mouse on a Mac for 7 years now, developers are forced to rethink their design approach and can't flood the right-click menu. No article of this kind would be complete without mentioning that users get confused with two buttons. There's a rumor that John Carmack once asked Steve Jobs what would happen if they'd put one more key on the keyboard."
Apple's decision to stay with a one button mouse has absolutely nothing to do with how people interact with technology. This is just another example of backward justification - i.e., they have a policy, now they need to find a reason for it. This is about marketing, nothing else. For a company that associates its products with "thinking different[ly]", a one button mouse is a good marketing tool. Just as the imacs were ridiculed for looking "trendy" or "gay", it certainly did break with the legions of other PCs in a mostly standard black or white ATX midtower case. The one button mouse is a distinctive marketing device of Apple. They are the only manufacturer to do so, and articles like this bring them the publicity that they crave. Having been around Macs, both pre and post OSX, on a daily basis, I've noticed that all serious users, myself included, always add a two button mouse of some kind to the Apple, and the one button mouse that came with it goes back in the box. Its really that simple, and because of that, they have really no need to change it. Even if they did provide a two button mouse, they'd only be helping maybe a third of users, since mice provided by the manufacturer will never be enough to satisfy those users who want a cordless system of some sort. The only place it hurts them to keep the one button design is with their Powerbooks; one of the main reasons I haven't and will not buy a new powerbook is because I need right click functionality without the need to encumber myself with more and more mobile accessories. Forget an emphasis on software design, this is all about marketing, image, and brand recognition.
Whenever I have to use a Mac I just pretend I don't know how to use a computer and I can use it just fine.
Half of writing history is hiding the truth.
Seven years? Are you kidding me? There have been two-button mice available on the Mac since the debut of the original Kensington Turbo Mouse trackball in about 1990.
Seven years since Apple singlehandedly created the market for USB peripherals with the introduction of the iMac, maybe, but two-button mice have been available for the Mac for over twice that long.
Ah, to be a newbie with absolutely no sense of history. Must be nice.
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
Adapt or die, grandma.
Seriously, if she can't figure out two buttons on a mouse, how can she DRIVE A CAR WITH TWO PEDALS?
If Macintosh caters to 4 year olds and invalids, then fine. It should be a special kiddie version, but give better I/O to the adults.
... you the customer are just too stupid to understand a mouse with more than one button, so by our computers because we respect your stupidity with a one button mouse.
George Bush + Linux = "I will not let information get in the way of the fight against Windows"
I think that you are giving Apple too much credit. There are just too many complex things with Macs, if you already find that right clicking is hard.
l )
Whats with the F1 to F12 keys? Whats the Esc (escape) key do?
How easy is it to double-click?
Why two special modifier keys?
Why the huge amount of inconsistancies in Apple's software UI (see as a good outline with references; http://www.scifihifi.com/index.cgi/mac/UILand.htm
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Make sure and flush after you shit-click...
Oooh man, smells like somebody shit-click in here!
How come people say that they 'took' a shit-click when they actually 'left' a shit-click?
How does a blind person know when they are done shit-clicking?
Man, that Jobs guy really thinks he's the shit-click!!
That's about enough of this shit-click.