Finally, an apple mouse worth using!

[cesium]

Apple has finally started selling a 2 button mouse, with a scroll pad and forward-back buttons.

I guess this is a good step forward, but it comes with a price, $49, and it only fully works with tiger.

I think I will stick with my trackball

[Wudang]

Wake me up when they sell a 3-button mouse.

[Wudang]

Hold the phone http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/02/apple_mighty_mouse/

[Ian Osborne]

Originally posted by Wudang
Wake me up when they sell a 3-button mouse.

This one is a three-button mouse.

http://images.apple.com/mightymouse/images/specstop20050802.jpg

[Rat]

Originally posted by Ian Osborne
This one is a three-button mouse.

That's all right then. As long as Apple have caught up with the 90s....:p

Cheers,
Rat.

[Ian Osborne]

Originally posted by Rat
That's all right then. As long as Apple have caught up with the 90s....:p

Hey, I read The Register (http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/08/02/apple_mighty_mouse/) too. If only your taste in computers was as good as your taste in IT sites...

[wdsmith]

Originally posted by Ian Osborne
This one is a three-button mouse.

Well, it actually has four physical buttons:
the top shell
the scroll ball
the two side buttons
It also has up to four programmable click functions, but they don't map one-to-one to the physical buttons:
There is no difference between clicking either or both side buttons.
The top shell can do left- and right-clicks, depending where your fingers are placed.
See the review at Ars Technica for more info: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/mightymouse.ars

[SezMe]

Originally posted by Wudang
Wake me up when they sell a 3-button mouse.
IMO, there is no 3-button mouse. I hate that damn scroll wheel. I long for the days of the REAL 3-button mouse with the middle button being programable.

[Ian Osborne]

(post added in error)

[Wudang]

Originally posted by SezMe
IMO, there is no 3-button mouse. I hate that damn scroll wheel. I long for the days of the REAL 3-button mouse with the middle button being programable.

That's what I had on my X-station and had on my PC until my wife borrowed it for work and lost it.

[richardm]

Originally posted by SezMe
IMO, there is no 3-button mouse. I hate that damn scroll wheel. I long for the days of the REAL 3-button mouse with the middle button being programable.

My current Microsoft Mouse can have all three buttons (the scroll wheel is clickable) remapped to anything, including batch files and other programs. It's quite nifty.

Even if it wasn't, I quite like scroll wheels generally.

[coalesce]

I haven't used a mouse since 1993. Once I used the Kensington Turbo Mouse, I've haven't used anything else since.

Michael

[Doc Dish]

I don't know about you guys, but I use my mouse with my fingers on the buttons and press down to click. With this mouse I would have to raise and lower my finger to click, as the main buttons are touch sensitive rather than actual switches.

Would this be likely to put more strain on the tendons in my hand/wrist than a standard mouse?

Also, why do you have to activate the side buttons by pressing the trackball?

[Smike]

Originally posted by SezMe
IMO, there is no 3-button mouse. I hate that damn scroll wheel. I long for the days of the REAL 3-button mouse with the middle button being programable.

If you're genuinely interested, my current job is replacing 300 old PC's with new ones. I think there may be some 3-button mice at the bottom of the heap. I could probably send you one, if you pay postage.

[wdsmith]

Originally posted by Doc Dish
With this mouse I would have to raise and lower my finger to click, as the main buttons are touch sensitive rather than actual switches.
The "click" doesn't happen until you press down on the top shell, which is the same way the one-button Apple Pro Mouse works. The touch sensitive areas merely detect where your finger(s) are when you push; that's how it distinguishes a right-click from a left-click. If you rest your fingers there without pressing on the top shell, there is no "click."

Originally posted by Doc Dish
Also, why do you have to activate the side buttons by pressing the trackball?
I don't understand what you mean here. The Ars Technica review didn't mention anything like it.

[Freakshow]

An Apple mouse worth using? What, did someone attach it to a PC? :D

[chulbert]

Originally posted by wdsmith
The "click" doesn't happen until you press down on the top shell, which is the same way the one-button Apple Pro Mouse works. The touch sensitive areas merely detect where your finger(s) are when you push; that's how it distinguishes a right-click from a left-click. If you rest your fingers there without pressing on the top shell, there is no "click."

I don't understand what you mean here. The Ars Technica review didn't mention anything like it. The mouse has one physical switch and then uses touch sensors to measure finger position. It doesn't matter which finger physically clicked the mouse, what matters is where your fingers are when the mouse is phsyically clicked.

If the mouse is physically clicked and there's a finger touching only the left side, you get a logical left click. If a finger is on only the right side of the mouse, you get a logical right click. However, if a finger is on both sides, the mouse registers a logical left click. So for people who rest one finger on each side of the mouse, they must pick up their index finger in order to right click.

[Doc Dish]

Originally posted by wdsmith
I don't understand what you mean here. The Ars Technica review didn't mention anything like it.

From The Register review (link above): Press the ball and squeeze either side of the mouse and you activate buttons three and four.

[wdsmith]

Originally posted by Doc Dish
From The Register review (link above):

Press the ball and squeeze either side of the mouse and you activate buttons three and four.
I understand the source of confusion now. The parallel construction of this sentence is a tad ambiguous. What the Reg writer meant was:
Press the ball and you activate button three.
Squeeze either side of the mouse and you activate button four.

[wdsmith]

Originally posted by chulbert
The mouse has one physical switch and then uses touch sensors to measure finger position. It doesn't matter which finger physically clicked the mouse, what matters is where your fingers are when the mouse is phsyically clicked.

If the mouse is physically clicked and there's a finger touching only the left side, you get a logical left click. If a finger is on only the right side of the mouse, you get a logical right click. However, if a finger is on both sides, the mouse registers a logical left click. So for people who rest one finger on each side of the mouse, they must pick up their index finger in order to right click.
Got it. Thanks for the clarification.

[Doc Dish]

Originally posted by wdsmith
I understand the source of confusion now. The parallel construction of this sentence is a tad ambiguous. What the Reg writer meant was:
Press the ball and you activate button three.
Squeeze either side of the mouse and you activate button four.

Thank you. I love The Register, but sometimes it can be a bit 'slap-dash' in the English department.

[chulbert]

Originally posted by wdsmith
Press the ball and you activate button three. As a bit of trivia, the ball itself is not a button per se. If the shell is clicked while the ball is pressed, you get button three. The logic of the mouse might be fully described as follows:

- Mouse shell is physically clicked.
- Is ball pressed? If yes, button three.
- Is finger touching left side? If yes, button one.
- Is finger touching right side? If yes, button two.

[wdsmith]

Originally posted by Doc Dish
Thank you. I love The Register, but sometimes it can be a bit 'slap-dash' in the English department.
Well, they (the English) did invent the language, so I guess they can do whatever the heck they want with it...


Edited to clarify "they."

[Doc Dish]

Originally posted by wdsmith
Well, they (the English) did invent the language, so I guess they can do whatever the heck they want with it...

And as one of 'them' I can complain when they don't do it properly! ;)

[richardm]

Originally posted by chulbert
If the mouse is physically clicked and there's a finger touching only the left side, you get a logical left click. If a finger is on only the right side of the mouse, you get a logical right click. However, if a finger is on both sides, the mouse registers a logical left click. So for people who rest one finger on each side of the mouse, they must pick up their index finger in order to right click.

There's a lot to be said for buttons :p

[chulbert]

Originally posted by richardm
There's a lot to be said for buttons :p I agree. I found the mouse to be awkward to use. Not only because of the left/right click behavior but I also found the side "squeeze" buttons uncomfortable. I could adjust if I had to but won't buy one of these mice.

[rjh01]

I got a decent mouse, with 5 programable buttons and a wheel and I do not think it is anything special (Only about $US60). It is not an Apple mouse either.

This is rather strange thread as I once was told that Apple were years ahead of everyone else. Or was that just the operating system?