A rant of a different kind tonight…
Did you know, the first computer mouse was invented in 1964? Sure, it wasn’t anything like what we use today, but the basic concept was there. For some time now, mice have had 1 or 2 buttons. Later on came the scroll wheel. Now, with optical technology, wireless, and the addition of a few more buttons, the mouse is a technical marvel compared to the old ball mice of the 90′s.
Where is this going you might ask?
I used a classic mac in secondary school. One of the all-in-ones with the square mouse with one button. This worked fine. Why then, have Apple felt the need to mess with the design of the mouse since then? The hockey puck, that rotates in your hand, meaning you get tangled up with the cable, and can’t press the button. Then there was the mouse where the entire shell pressed down. More recently came the “Mighty mouse”. Every single one of these had a stupid wheel, which while nice to use, eventually stopped working. It also had a one piece shell, but had two clickable regions. I always had trouble with the right mouse button clicking when I didn’t want it to. Now, the Magic mouse has arrived. No wheel on this one, but it has multi touch capabilities. You have to sit through a tutorial on how to use the most basic peripheral that’s been around since the 80′s…
A colleague recently compared me buying a Logitech mouse for my mac to “putting a K&N filter on a Ferrari”. I replied with, “a Ferrari wouldn’t need a K&N because the standard filter works perfectly well”. Said colleague has since purchased a Logitech mouse for his MacBook Pro…
Unfortunately Apple seems to have a style over function attitude in this respect. A mouse has 2 buttons and a scrolly wheel. Apple, pay Logitech to make you a nice white mouse, your users will thank you for it!