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Apple Developing Two-Button Mouse

An anonymous reader writes "Always the innovator, Apple is rumored to be developing a two-button mouse! Personally, I don't think it will catch on. Two buttons will be way too confusing for your average user." A few users noted a related Slashdot story from awhile back that discusses why Apple has historically avoided the two-button mouse. The article also mentions a revision to the AirPort Base Station with built-in optical audio.

22 of 1,070 comments (clear)

  1. Pan wheel... by nmg196 · · Score: 4, Funny

    In a few years Apple will invent something called a "pan wheel" which allows you to pan up and down in documents... They'll probably try and patent it as well.

    1. Re:Pan wheel... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The Wheel from the iPod on a mouse?

      I'm sure my girlfriend will appreciate how dextrious my fingers will get.

    2. Re:Pan wheel... by Ubergrendle · · Score: 5, Funny

      This morning I woke up and the skies were coloured of sackcloth, and the sun coloured as blood, and there was this distinct crunching sound on the floor as I walked over a carpet of locusts, and there were these strange markings on the outside of my door.... now I know why.

      --
      John Maynard Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
    3. Re:Pan wheel... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yawn. My Logitech three-button wheel mouse works just fine in OS X and guess what the wheel does?

      Um... if you rotate the wheel fast enough, would you get the joke that flew by at Mach 10 over your head?

    4. Re:Pan wheel... by darthtuttle · · Score: 5, Funny

      You roll an 18 in Dex and see if you don't end up with a girlfriend.

      --
      Darthtuttle
      Thought Architect
    5. Re:Pan wheel... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      i take it I'm not the only one who thinks the ipod's scroll wheel interface was designed by watching women masturbate?

    6. Re:Pan wheel... by wed128 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nerdiest Response Ever

    7. Re:Pan wheel... by cosmo7 · · Score: 5, Funny

      And how much extra effort would it take to fix it? 10 or 15 minutes and a quick re-compile?

      You've got to think corporate:

      Memo from QA, 'Firefox compatibility'.
      2 months later: Action Meeting decides to have report done.
      2 weeks later: Meeting about report.
      16 months later: Issue report request, 'Firefox compatibility'.
      15 minutes later: Intern produces report.
      6 months later: Meeting to discuss report.
      3 weeks later: Meeting to discuss follow-up report.
      2 months later: Action plan established.
      1 week later: Action plan steering committee appointed.
      3 months later: Action plan steering committee asks intern to recompile mouse drivers.
      15 minutes later: Drivers ready.

  2. In other news by MyLongNickName · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot gets sued for giving out trade secrets. Apple demands to know who leaked this information, which would have revolutionized the computer world as we know it.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  3. Next up.. by the_skywise · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft innovates the 1-Button mouse as a whole new line of efficiency.

    Bill Gates says: "One mouse button ought to be enough for anybody."

  4. Nah, "To button" and "Fro button" by PornMaster · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Back button" is in common usage already. If they call them "To Button" and "Fro Button", they can apply for trademarks.

  5. one step at a TIME! by hsmith · · Score: 5, Funny

    jeez! you can't throw it all at a user a once! the only way is to scale out those big features incrimentally.

  6. Re:Mac Users will now need by elecngnr · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hmmmm, can't use my middle finger. I need to direct it to the M$ users when they come to ask me to help them fix their buggy, virus loaded P.[iece of] C.[rap]

    --
    Having done so much with so little for so long, I now can do anything with nothing at all.
  7. Re:BSOD? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please. Comparing the BSoD to an OS X grey screen of death is just wrong. When a Mac crashes, the screen fades to grey, and a translucent box appears telling you (in four languages, no less) that you need to restart your computer. The BSoD has far less class and style...

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  8. Re:Two button mouse my... by CapnGib · · Score: 5, Funny
    Whoa whoa whoa slow down Tex. One button at a time.

    Let the mouse button wars begin!!

    25 years later...

    mac OS XX user: "WOW the new Apple Bluetooth mouse has 3 buttons and a scroll wheel"

    Windows Longwhore SP4 user: "Lame, my MS Intellimouse has 16 buttons, 2 pressure-sensitive-tilt-slide-rotate-scroll wheels, 2 lasers, a 3-axis fiber optic ring gyroscope with GPS tracking, an inertial-charging battery system and 2-parameter biometric analyser to combat privacy, I mean piracy"

    --
    Beauty is truly in the eye of the tiger
  9. Sigh by Klar · · Score: 4, Funny

    I feel better about myself when I read comments like this..

  10. Re:MOD UP! by Matt+the+Hat · · Score: 5, Funny

    I actually asked a girl at a club how she would rate me on a scale of 3 to 18. She said 17 so I pulled out a 20 sider and rolled. Then I said I passed my charisma check so you have to dance with me. It actually worked! That's what happens when you start the night with drinking and D&D before going to the club.

  11. Re:MOD UP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    someone has to say it.....

    That is just sad, truly sad.
    1.) that you would make the comment
    2.) that you would make it to a girl
    3.) that you would have a D20 with you in a club
    4.) that you would think this would work
    5.) that this actually did

  12. Re:MOD UP! by Marvelicious · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did her moustache tickle?

    --
    Send whiskey and fresh horses!
  13. The power button... by xRelisH · · Score: 4, Funny

    I remember on some of the older PowerPC's in the computer lab back when I was in elementary school, the power button was right where you'd think the floppy eject button was.

    I don't think I can count on one hand how many times people have switched off their PC's when trying to eject a floppy!

  14. Re:MOD UP! by The+Archon+V2.0 · · Score: 4, Funny
    I actually asked a girl at a club how she would rate me on a scale of 3 to 18. She said 17 so I pulled out a 20 sider and rolled. Then I said I passed my charisma check so you have to dance with me. It actually worked!

    Dear Penthouse^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Slashdot Forum....

    That's what happens when you start the night with drinking and D&D before going to the club.

    Yep. You played all the D&D, and she did all the drinking.

    (Just funnin' ya. But if you packed a d20 specifically for this, it means you had put way too much thought behind this idea.:)

  15. Re:Two button mouse my... by Steve+Cowan · · Score: 5, Funny
    OS XX is okay, but I'm really waiting for OS XXX. It will have much better plug and play support than we have today.
    Not to mention Exposé Extreme!