Apple's New Mighty Mouse: Modern Mouse with a "Classic" Mode?
Earlier this week, Apple announced Mighty
Mouse, a new mouse possessing 4-button functionality. As you read
this posting, please bare in mind that my remarks are on the design philosophy
of Might Mouse and not a review. It's also worth mentioning that I approach the
design philosophy primarily from the point of view of a Unix guy, who took his
three-button mouse with him when he switched to the Mac. I have not tried Might
Mouse. If it will be bundled with my next Mac purchase, then I'll write about
my experience with it.
At any rate, the introduction of Mighty Mouse mouse breaks a two-decade tradition (or perhaps stubbornness) of producing only one-button mice. You may have noticed my peculiar wording, "possessing 4-button functionality." That's because, as Apple puts it, "you get the programability of a four-button mouse in a single-button design." Apple also claims that, although others have created multi-button mice with scroll wheels, "nobody made a mouse as easy to use as your Mac. Until now."
One of Mighty Mouse's new features is the scroll ball, offering 360-degree scrolling capability. That does sound nice. The Might Mouse is also supposed to work on Windows PCs. Another nice feature. On the other hand, Apple seems to be reluctant to let go of the one-button design. Apple, I love ya. Mac OS X, iPod, and so many other things you do are absolutely breathtaking! But you need to get over your fixation on the one-button design. Maybe this mouse is really great, but the idea that four-button functionality is best achieved by a one-button design seems counter-intuitive . On the other hand, consider the source of this opinion. (That's me.) In spite of all the musical sounds available for cell phones nowadays, my cell phone alerts me to an incoming call by ringing. Just like an old fashioned phone. If I want to hear music, I'll reach for my iPod. Yes, I know that someday my phone may double as an MP3 player, but it will still use a ringing sound to let me know there's a call coming in. So, my first reaction is that a four-button mouse should have four-buttons.
To be really fair to Apple on this one, however, I should point out that Might Mouse is not designed only to function as a four-button mouse, but rather as either a multi-button mouse or as a one button mouse, depending on how you configure it in a preference panel. It's my understanding that the one-button mode is the default behavior. Having the one-button behavior as the default reminds me of the early days of Apple's Mac OS X when Macs shipped with both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9, but Mac OS 9 was the default. I think this makes sense for most traditional Mac users. On the other hand, if you're already a multi-button mouse user, then the idea of a mouse that can be configured as either a one-button or a multi-button mouse will probably seem a bit odd. Today's Macs don't boot into Mac OS 9, but a Mac OS 9 environment known as Classic can be run within Mac OS X. One-button mode is to Mighty Mouse what Classic is to Mac OS X. My guess is that the both the one-button mode on Apple Mice and Classic will eventually disappear.
At any rate, the introduction of Mighty Mouse mouse breaks a two-decade tradition (or perhaps stubbornness) of producing only one-button mice. You may have noticed my peculiar wording, "possessing 4-button functionality." That's because, as Apple puts it, "you get the programability of a four-button mouse in a single-button design." Apple also claims that, although others have created multi-button mice with scroll wheels, "nobody made a mouse as easy to use as your Mac. Until now."
One of Mighty Mouse's new features is the scroll ball, offering 360-degree scrolling capability. That does sound nice. The Might Mouse is also supposed to work on Windows PCs. Another nice feature. On the other hand, Apple seems to be reluctant to let go of the one-button design. Apple, I love ya. Mac OS X, iPod, and so many other things you do are absolutely breathtaking! But you need to get over your fixation on the one-button design. Maybe this mouse is really great, but the idea that four-button functionality is best achieved by a one-button design seems counter-intuitive . On the other hand, consider the source of this opinion. (That's me.) In spite of all the musical sounds available for cell phones nowadays, my cell phone alerts me to an incoming call by ringing. Just like an old fashioned phone. If I want to hear music, I'll reach for my iPod. Yes, I know that someday my phone may double as an MP3 player, but it will still use a ringing sound to let me know there's a call coming in. So, my first reaction is that a four-button mouse should have four-buttons.
To be really fair to Apple on this one, however, I should point out that Might Mouse is not designed only to function as a four-button mouse, but rather as either a multi-button mouse or as a one button mouse, depending on how you configure it in a preference panel. It's my understanding that the one-button mode is the default behavior. Having the one-button behavior as the default reminds me of the early days of Apple's Mac OS X when Macs shipped with both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9, but Mac OS 9 was the default. I think this makes sense for most traditional Mac users. On the other hand, if you're already a multi-button mouse user, then the idea of a mouse that can be configured as either a one-button or a multi-button mouse will probably seem a bit odd. Today's Macs don't boot into Mac OS 9, but a Mac OS 9 environment known as Classic can be run within Mac OS X. One-button mode is to Mighty Mouse what Classic is to Mac OS X. My guess is that the both the one-button mode on Apple Mice and Classic will eventually disappear.
Posted: Friday - August 05, 2005 at 01:52 PM
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Published On: May 23, 2008 09:09 AM
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