Online Petition for 2-button mice
There’s a petition for Apple to give up their outdated single button mouse and start shipping 2-button scroll-wheel mice with their machines.
http://www.petitiononline.com/2button/
29 Responses to “Online Petition for 2-button mice”
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January 21st, 2005 at 7:08 pm
Why are single button mice ‘outdated’? Seriously, if you’d like Apple to offer a two-button mouse, maybe you could convince them to offer it as a choice. But please don’t ask them to give up the single button mice in the process — some people like them. Maybe Apple could offer other variations as well — 3, 4, 6, 8, whatever button mice with one or two wheels. A family member of mine likes as many buttons/wheels as possible. Personally, I prefer my single button trackpad.
January 21st, 2005 at 8:11 pm
Most professional applications, as well as games, benefit from the use of a 2 button mouse. Any kind of work in 3D REQUIRES a 3 button mouse.
If anybody prefers a 1 button mouse, I can only assume that the extra buttons confuse them so they probably shouldn’t be using a computer to begin with. Seriously, just click the left one and you can pretend your mouse has one button!
It’s really lame that upon buying a Mac, the first thing you have to do is replace the mouse.
It would also give Apple more appeal for switchers if they would ship a mouse that the majority of the world is accostomed to.
January 21st, 2005 at 8:27 pm
I don’t have a pointer to the reference at the moment, but I saw a Swedish study more than 10 years ago that said this. The mechanism for this effect is the number of tendons involved in pushing the buttons. A single-button mouse user uses two or three fingers to push the button, a multi-button mouse users holds the mouse differently, and only uses one finger to push the button.
January 21st, 2005 at 8:33 pm
I guess I would have to see the study, but I can’t imagine the use of 2 button mouse being anymore dangerous than using a keyboard.
January 21st, 2005 at 11:13 pm
If you want a multi button mouse, then by all means go and buy one, but don’t force it on the rest of us.
I am not a computer novice, I know how to use more than one mouse button. However, most of my computing is done on my PowerBook with a Trackpad. The PowerBook has a trackpad button, but I NEVER use it. Instead I just tap on the trackpad, which is a lot easier.
Have you ever used a Windows laptop with more than one trackpad button. It is very awkward to click on the buttons with your thumb while using the trackpad. For the right button, that is your only option.
On the mac, Ctrl-tap is SO much easier.
The minute Apple stops shipping a one button mouse, Application developers will forget about having to handle a single mouse button. They will start writing applications that REQUIRE a 2nd button.
Where will that leave users like me???
January 21st, 2005 at 11:42 pm
ppl who want a multi button, go buy one for chripes sake! I’ve been using Macs for more than 10 years and never missed the d**** second button.
January 22nd, 2005 at 5:33 am
I’ve been using Macs since 1992. I can’t recall when I’ve *ever* said “geeze, too bad there’s only one button on this mouse”.
Name *one* “professional application” that benefits from an additional button on the mouse. ONE.
I think the pressure to have multiple buttons comes entirely from the gaming community. Fine… go get yer darn game and buy a cool mouse… OSX supports it, it just doesn’t ship with the hardware. Nor does apple ship a scanner with every Mac… geez… because most people do not buy a scanner!
January 22nd, 2005 at 6:27 am
Steve Jobs sais it brother: “We developed the first zero-button mouse”.
Yuo can buy a zillion mice with anything from 2 up to 17 buttons. if you want an Apple look-a-like go to MacMice: The sell TheMouse: a two-button mouse with scrollwheel which resemble Apple’s mouse in every way.
Anyway: The Mac mini make this whole petition virtually senseless as it come with a no-mouse
January 22nd, 2005 at 6:54 am
You totally miss the point.
Having only one button mice with macs just force developers to be consistent in their app design. That’s why Apple keeps them that way.
Do you really think they’re stupid enough to not realize that 2 buttons and a wheel can be useful? And that they keep supporting those stupid critics all the time just for fun?
OS X has already some consistency problems, I’m glad the one button mouse helps avoiding more of them.
What’s you’re problem? 29$? I don’t care. (Now, I use a wacom instead of a mouse anyway.
The only thing that’s a pain in the a** is the one-button trackpad, cause you can’t change it.
If petitions had any usefulness, I’d say let’s make one for a BTO 2 buttons trackpad.
That would at least have a bit of sense.
January 22nd, 2005 at 7:06 am
Years ago, while participating as a Mac developer in the design of cross-platform software, somebody said to me, “Oh, yeah, the Mac has no right mouse button.” My response was, “No, the Mac has no wrong mouse button.” And that’s the beauty of it.
My wife is a perpetual computer novice; she has other things to do with her time than to become an expert at the nuances of using her computer. She dislikes the scroll-wheel mouse on her machine at work because she occasionally performs an unintentional gesture and is unpleasantly surprised at the result.
Apple has done the right thing by supporting multi-function mice in the software, and retaining the easiest-to-learn minimalist functionality out of the box.
The next step, if they take it, will be to manufacture and sell a multi-function mouse as a separate SKU. But I doubt the numbers support the the move; once you move into the market of alternative mice, the market fragments: mouse or trackball, >2 buttons, force stick vs. scroll-wheel, etc. I doubt they would sell enough of any one model to justify ramping up production.
January 22nd, 2005 at 7:50 am
I have been using macs since 1979 (apple 2) but am still a tech neophyte. I cannot understand why Apple does not offer a two button (with scroll-wheel) mouse. This smacks
of stubbornness rather than intelligent business which is the last thing I would expect from this wonderful company. I just finished buying a wireless MacMouse for $100 cdn. which I would prefer to give to Apple
January 22nd, 2005 at 8:23 am
I can’t stand using Apple’s one-button mouse. When I went to Vancouver last week, I took my Kensington 3-button mouse with my PowerBook, but everyone else had a one button mouse. Whenever I had to use someone else’s Mac, I had to keep hitting command or control when I could do everything with only my mouse and no modifier keys.
January 22nd, 2005 at 10:48 am
I love the rationale for the one button mouse: You can’t make a mistake on which button to push.
January 22nd, 2005 at 2:43 pm
I can name several, since you only want one, how about Maya
January 22nd, 2005 at 2:51 pm
How exactly would a 2 button mouse cause inconsistencty for app developement?
Right click would simply do the EXACT same thing that ctrl-click would do; doesn’t seem to complicated to me.
January 22nd, 2005 at 2:57 pm
Problem: Say I want to buy an iMac from the Apple store, it comes with a mouse and keyboard and they’re is no option to remove them.
Now I think that a single button mouse is useless so I dont want it, but I have to take with the comuter.
Granted its only $30, not a lot of money, but I wouldn’t just throw that much money in the trash for no reason. I would throw that mouse in the trash and THEN have to go out and spend monoey on a new mouse.
January 22nd, 2005 at 3:31 pm
“OSX supports it, it just doesn’t ship with the hardware. Nor does apple ship a scanner with every Mac… geez… because most people do not buy a scanner!”
Umm, its possible to use a computer without a scanner; you buy one if you need one.
I’m pretty sure a mouse is REQUIRED in order to make use of a Mac.
January 22nd, 2005 at 3:36 pm
“Anyway: The Mac mini make this whole petition virtually senseless as it come with a no-mouse ;-)”
Not really. IMHO, most people who would want a multi-button mouse would be a gamer or a pro-user; neither of those users would want a mini.
January 22nd, 2005 at 6:42 pm
Heres a funny little article on Macgamer regarding one-button mice
http://www.macgamer.com/news/item.php?id=8321
January 22nd, 2005 at 6:45 pm
If you buy a new Mac from the Apple store, other than the mini, it comes with a mouse; no option to leave it out.
Just because something is included, doesn’t mean its free, so you’re paying for it.
You may like the one-button mouse, but someone who doesn’t is still forced to pay for one and then pay for a multi-button mouse
January 23rd, 2005 at 2:52 am
I’d hate it if Apple began shipping those seventy-six button mice with fourteen wheels. There are plenty of third-party manufacturers that are happy to offer you their products. Apple’s mice are the best Mac mice on the market. I never felt like getting a multi-button mouse. Have these petitioners thought of other Mac users?
January 23rd, 2005 at 2:45 pm
I’m all with the majority of the comments here championing the single-button mouse. I do tech work with both pcs and macs and while I use the second button on pcs frequently, I rarely, if ever, have to use the equivalent on macs. The fact is, if you need a 2+ button mouse, chances are you’ll buy one anyway regardless. Also, I would agree with the comment made about the pressure for multi-button mice coming mostly from the gaming community. I would say the average person buying a mac and Apple’s target audience of the average consumer don’t have much need for more than one button. Besides, why should Apple supply the mice? There are a lot of really good third party companies out there that exist to complement the awesome mac hardware with add-ons and accessories that Apple doesn’t provide and for the most part, this is a perfect fit.
January 24th, 2005 at 8:47 am
My favorite multi-button mouse advocacy stunt is to go to the Apple store, pull down a Shake box and point to the system requirements: three button mouse. I then point out that Apple sells a program that requires hardware they won’t sell.
Check it out at http://www.apple.com/shake/specs.html
January 25th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
But Apple does sell three button mice. They just don’t happen make their own.
Neither does Best Buy.
January 26th, 2005 at 7:12 am
Apple should offer a multi-button mouse with a scroll wheel as a BTO option. It could be either their own or a third party mouse.
January 26th, 2005 at 3:56 pm
Again, you are still required to take the one button mouse when you buy a Mac at the Apple store!
Maybe if you call them, its possible to sub a multi-button mouse for the single one, but the online apple store doesn’t let you.
What we need is an option to choose a multi-button mouse instead of a single button.
January 27th, 2005 at 8:43 am
It is OK to admit it. Two buttons are better than one.
January 27th, 2005 at 11:15 pm
Name *one* “professional application” that benefits from an additional button on the mouse. ONE.
SketchUp does.
January 31st, 2005 at 12:59 am
People, everybody, grow up! Apple have spent millions in researching just this. One Button is all one needs — any n-buttons just complicates support and adds nothing really — are not most of you geeks and IT-trend followers always moaning about removing your hands from the keyboard in the first place? Are you thinking you are free (read silly yanks) because you can choose to have an irrelevant argument?
I completely moved from PCs ~3 years ago and these thoughts never invade my productive mind.
David Green
dgringo1@mac.com (for any sad flamers