Will Apple Disappoint on 30th Anniversary?

An anonymous reader writes "We've seen the media get over-excited about an Apple launch before, but one CNET columnist is 'threatening suicide' if Apple don't announce something for their 30th Anniversary this Saturday. CNET is concerned at the lack of any news from Apple: 'You'd guess that Steve Jobs will at least have to walk out onto the lawn in Cupertino, light a few fireworks and make some whooping noises. It's that or risk an international incident.' Is Apple going to keep a low profile for their 30th?"

Comments

Re: Two buttons on laptops do not work

[mk2ja]

Well, I've read through all the comments on this so far and have a couple thoughts of my own.

My first laptop experiences were on Apple books with (obviously) one button, and trust me I am a Mac Addict. But my college requires all students to purchase a specific laptop, which has never been an Apple model (its an engineering institute, so it makes sense). My Dell Precision M70 (click to view it on Dell.com) has a trackpad with two buttons beneath it in addition to a trackpoint "blue dot" in the middle of the keyboard with two buttons beneath the spacebar.

Last month my dad got a new MacBook Pro. And after using my Dell with its multiple mousing options, going back to only having a trackpad and only one mouse button was almost painful. Granted, the Control+Click helps a bit, but it just is not as convenient as having a dedicated button.

From what I read in the comments, generally speaking, the "power users" were more appreciative of the extra button. And those who preferred to do without were the users who use less than the computer's full potential. I've even seen this evidenced by observing many users around me, here at school and among family and friends at home.

Power users generally use the keyboard more than a mouse. This means that having the trackpoint is convenient because it doesn't require much displacement (or none at all) from the keyboard should the need to mouse around come up. So the two buttons beneath the spacebar are VERY convenient because clicking is little different from entering a space or choosing an option. (You are aware that hitting the space bar can function the same as the Enter key or a mouse click in many situations, aren't you?)

For the days when a power user feels lazy, or for the average user, the trackpad with its own two buttons are more appropriate. But to have just one button which requires a key-combo to call up the contextual menu just doesn't fit the bill in terms of convenience. And to say that- well, here let me quote it:

chording keys to get to the second button is much, much better because you get the second button exactly when you want it.

That is just bogus! You get the right-click exactly when you want it if you have a dedicated second button, and you get it with a whole lot less trouble than having to use a key combination in addition to clicking.

So, final conclusion?
Well, I think I've made my point.