The Mouse Roars
Not long ago on Apple Matters, one of their astute (or maybe lucky) writers suggested Apple needed not a two-button mouse, but a multi-button mouse. The article was What OS X could learn from Windows.
In an article that posed five other suggestions for Apple, that suggestion generated the most controversy and comment. Not the multi-button mind you, but the suggestion Apple desert the single-button mouse that had for 20 years, been an icon of what it meant to be a Mac user. Kind of like a rallying flag. You could just imagine the battle flag of the Mac legions bearing, not a Mac, but a one button mouse. In this simple device, were all the philosophies of Macdom - simplicity, ease of use, being different, being innovative, defiance.
And now, in one fell swoop, Apple have reset the playing field. They’ve switched decks on us again. We have to change another argument about why we are Mac users. We are getting to the point where the only difference will be the OS - and I’m just fine with that.
A Mighty Mouse
Here’s how Apple broke the news to world and shattered another myth:
With up to four programmable buttons, Mighty Mouse makes it easy to access key features of Tiger with the side buttons and Scroll Ball providing quick, one-click access to Spotlight, Dashboard and Exposé.
Sound familiar? Here’s what was in that article:
3) A multi button mouse. And you thought I’d say two. Why stop at two? Especially with things like Exposé, Dashboard and Spotlight. They’re just crying out for single click activation from a mouse.
That article was written with no prior knowledge of Apple’s plans, including a forgotten rumor on Apple Insider in March, which I didn’t turn up until several days after my article was released.
And now, much sooner than expected Apple has, as desired by me and a few others, given us a multi-button mouse to access things like Spotlight, Dashboard and Exposé from a single click.
There were many, many responses to that article - mostly about the mouse. Several people posting comments indicated they did not want button-bloat. A few others said a mouse that worked like a single or multi-button mouse would be good. Maybe Apple has made both of these groups happy as this mouse can be one, two, three or four button. Whatever takes you fancy. But I reckon they’ll start using the other buttons before long.
Several though voiced very strong concerns about ergonomics and software ease of use being compromised - suggesting developers could become lazy. I trust this won’t happen - especially as developers have had context menus for years.
It’s interesting to note, that the side buttons on Apple’s single button mouse have always been there - I’ve tried pressing them many times to no avail. How long have Apple been planning this? Have they planned this from the beginning of the redesigned one-button mouse - like the Intel switch which was planned for from the beginnings of OS X?
And it upholds the ideals of simplicity, ease of use, being different, being innovative - whilst defiantly challenging the PC world to do better.
The Mighty Mouse, although the name doesn’t grab me, certainly grabs me on looks. The Apple designers at their best yet again. And it’s got a scroll wheel that I wanted too! I want one!
What’s it mean?
This isn’t a chance to gloat. Sitting alone in a dimly lit room, there’s no one here to pat my back and say “Good onya, mate!” But that’s cool - since there’s still another five requests on that list that could become egg on my face.
Rather, this is a chance to take stock of Apple. Who are Apple, 2005? How many “nevers” have been tossed aside in the last six months alone? An x86 Mac; A flash based iPod; A cheap Mac; A multi-button Mouse. Hell’s looking decidedly cold. What’s next? iPod’s that play videos are strongly rumored. And what after that? OS X licensed to Dell? The Apple keyboard modifier keys changed to match Windows’? This is a new Apple that is letting go of the past when it sees it doesn’t need to hold onto it. This is an Apple that is prepared to change. This is an Apple that really does want a much larger slice of the PC market. This is an Apple of who you really should never say never.
This Apple is about making great products that really are accessible to everyone. That is the key. That is Apple 2005.
I guess I can take my flame-proof vest off now.
Thanks Steve, I owe you a beer.
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Slashdot
StumbleUpon
Comments
What I find interesting about this mouse is that, out of the box, it’s still basically a one-button mouse. A new user just clicks without caring about right or left - there is no “right” or “left”. A power user sets up his/her mouse with multi-button functionality in the System Prefs.
It goes to show that Apple engineers are still user-centric in their designs. Make it as easy as you can, but still find a way to add functionality for advanced user.
I wonder if the “right” and “left” clicks are assignable (ie - for a left-handed user, the buttons could be reversed). If they go that far (which wouldn’t surprise me much), there’d be no debate that user friendliness is still at the center of Apple design.
And that’s really what makes the Mac OS so fun to use.
All the clicks are assignable, so yes, you can switch the left/right clicks reversed for southpaws.
How many “nevers” have been tossed aside in the last six months alone? An x86 Mac; A flash based iPod; A cheap Mac; A multi-button Mouse.
What’s so annoying to the non-fanatics is that the “nevers” come from the zealots with all of these reasons why Apple will NEVER switch to Intel, make a multi-button mouse, license OS X to Dell, and so on.
But then as soon as it happens, it suddenly becomes the greatest idea in the world and those “never” arguments are thrown out like they never existed in the first place.
I suppose the purists will state now that Apple’s engineering department needed that multi-decade long period to design such a fine specimen - a multi-button (even though it isn’t really) mouse worthy of the Apple name. If this thing is revolutionary then we’re not in for too many more surprises from Cupertino. I picked mine up today and yeah, it’s different - I’ll give it that. The scroll ball is certainly a cool feature and if the side button(s?) were placed slightly better I would probably use them a bit more (in fact I hope there is a way to program them to go “back” in Safari) - but when all is said and done it’s really just not up to par with what I expected. When Apple makes an announcement that they’re going to up and trash 20 years of firm one-button stance, I expect a little wired miracle in the palm of my hand. What I got instead was a half-useful / half-infuriating (try playing games with it) little gadget that hardly warrants $49.
My biggest beef with it? Simple. At it’s core it’s still just a one button mouse. I can’t up and forget years of two button training to get used to actually lifting my left-button finger all the way up off the thing to “right click” - it seems like any contact at all on the left side still registers the (one) button with a left click. Even the scroll ball uses the same click rather than it’s own. I give credit to Apple for some really miniature touch sensors but not much else.
This is really a money making penalty for the early adopters. We all know this is the stock mouse of the future and most of us will pay full price for one now - knowing full well that the Bluetooth model will be out shortly - and we’ll buy that one too - and the cycle continues. I expected more from the product, but not from the company.
Beeblebrox,
I don’t think anyone said that Apple wouldn’t make a multi-button mouse. The issue was would Apple stop making a single shell mouse that could only detect a single click and ship a two button only mouse in it’s place with every Mac.
If you read the article at Ars Technica, you’ll see that…
- By default, the mouse is configured to send only left clicks, regardless of where you click. You don’t have to avoid the “other button” if you have a disability or prefer a single button mouse.
- The mouse still uses the same solid, single-shell design as the previous one button mouse.
Yes, you can optionally enable support to detect right clicks and it has side buttons and a scroll ball (which don’t act as a left or right click by default), but if placed in the box with every new Mac, it’s effectively shipping with a single button mouse.
I don’t see any “never” arguments that have been thrown out or compromised. Apple just figured out a way to accommodate switchers and advanced uses without taking away the choice to use a true, one button mouse. Which is quite an amazing feat of design and engineering, if you stop and think about it.
If that isn’t innovation, I don’t know what is.
We all know this is the stock mouse of the future and most of us will pay full price for one now - knowing full well that the Bluetooth model will be out shortly - and we’ll buy that one too - and the cycle continues.
If you ever want to know what Apple is REALLY good at (besides getting their fan base to shell out money for crap like this), then just note that we’ve now got THREE articles on this site alone about Apple introducing a freakin’ multi-button mouse, a product that other computers have had for decades now. It seems like the lamer the product, the more hype it gets, as if to overcompensate because the differences between the competition and Apple’s product are so small. I remember Steve Jobs devoting a half-hour of his keynote one year to Ical. Yes, ICAL.
Were there this many articles for the switch to Intel?
I don’t think anyone said that Apple wouldn’t make a multi-button mouse.
Yep, they did. I can’t recall ALL of the myriad reasons why this would never happen, but I can name a couple of the oft-repeated ones.
A) Button creep. Adding one more button leads to adding two more buttons. Adding two more buttons leads to adding three more buttons. Where do you stop? I think Mighty Mouse has eight of them, or something like that, plus a thing called a scroll ball, which unlike the other buttons, isn’t hidden.
If Apple is afraid of users being too dumb to figure out a right-button, what chance do those users have with a scroll ball that works one way for 10.3 and another way for 10.4 and yet another way for Windows?
B) This one was my favorite. Years of market research and testing have proved scientifically and conclusively that the single-button is easier to use and more ergonomic. Apparently depressing a key with your middle finger takes far more energy and effort than lifting your hand to hit the Apple key for context menus. And this scientific study was why Apple has stuck by the single-button mouse, refusing to even bother making any sort of alternative for power users.
I guess they either lost those studies or something because they’ve sure changed their tune, although not nearly as fast as the zealots have changed theirs on why Apple should never bother with more than one button.
Beeblebrox: I think that Apple really has struck a middleground with what was said (never a multi-button mouse) and what the landscape of users are.
Its called making the best of both worlds. I am very satisfied with Apple’s design decisions that were documented by the Ars Technica review. By default, the mouse acts like a single button mouse. The advanced user can turn on the additional button behavior.
In fact, my first post about the release of the Mighty Mouse had me saying it was a mistake, and a very poor interaction design decision.
Now it sounds like I am apologizing for Apple - but you have to look at the Mighty Mouse as a very intelligent design (unlike the Brushed Metal interface).
As for your comments:
A) the scroll ball is intuitive. Plain and simple - there is no application dependency or unlikely behavior to be pulled off by the scroll ball. The real question is: what took Apple so long to incorporate it? Well, that’s where they could be blamed: it took them too long to realize a good thing. Remember, this mouse is an add-on device (much like the iSight) that requires a consumer to BUY it and know what it does for them.
B) Apple’s policy was always to let third-party developers fill the gap. Much like not everyone needs an Avid keyboard, nor does everyone need a multi-button mouse. I think the only reason Apple introduced the mighty mouse is that they think they truly did something innovative with it. I don’t think anyone could successfully argue that the mighty mouse is not innovative. Quite a feat considering mice have been around for over 30 years.
As for the constand comments about zealots immediately saying the mighty mouse changing their tune - I think the Mac boards have been pretty balanced for once, an even amount saying its the best thing ever and the others thinking it could be a bad move.
The Intel switch for cryin’ out loud had many more people jumping on the bandwagon and shit talking IBM.
Beeblebrox: you used to stir the pot and at least entertain, now you are just becoming tiresome and of no use to the commentary. I am suggest you consider your comments a bit more carefully.
Now it sounds like I am apologizing for Apple
What?! Say it ain’t so!
now you are just becoming tiresome and of no use to the commentary.
And your zealotry and sycophancy are, what, refreshing? Useful? Unusual?
I am suggest you consider your comments a bit more carefully.
Apple. Is. The. Best. Company. Ever. And. Their. Multi-button. Mouse. Is. Truly. Unique. And. Innovative. And. Not. At. All. Ridiculously. Overpriced. Or. Just. Like. Any. Other. Multi-button. Mouse.
Better?
Gee, Beeblebrox seems to have his panties in a bunch.
Nathan is correct - Apple is not repudiating its one-button mouse philosophy at all with Mighty Mouse. Rather, it is accomodating multi-button proponents by making a one-button mouse smart enough to figure out if you are right-clicking or left-clicking or squeeze-clicking.
Show Mighty Mouse to 100 non-geek users and ask them if it’s a multi-button mouse. I would venture to guess that nearly all of them will say it’s a single-button mouse.
Replace a single-button mouse on a non-geek Mac user’s Mac with Mighty Mouse in default mode. I bet they will be pleasantly surprised by the scroll ball functionality, but chances are, they will be none the wiser that it is anything but a single button mouse.
Basically, Mighty Mouse is Apple’s way to shut the multi-button proponents up by making them think they’ve “won” (whatever that means). But as Nathan pointed out, Mighty Mouse is a subversive way for Apple to preserve (and thus reinforce) its one-button philosophy while giving power users their cake, too. It’s clever realism in industrial design, not concession.
Here’s more supporting evidence that Mighty Mouse is about accomodating all types of users without giving up simplicity.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2005/tc2005084_0906_tc024.htm
“David Moody, an Apple vice-president in product marketing, says Mighty Mouse is designed to satisfy both single-button Mac traditionalists as well as those eager for more functionality. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t compromise the experience for someone who prefers a single button,” he says. “There are plenty of multi-button mice on the market, but the problem with them is that they add some complexity.”
Mighty Mouse is also forward-looking because the scroll ball has specific functionality in Apple’s digital media apps, which a regular scroll wheel can’t duplicate.
“The scroll wheel, the most obvious change in the mouse’s appearance, is geared in part toward Apple software applications like iMovie and GarageBand, plus professional apps such as Logic, says Scott Broderick, Apple’s product manager in charge of the new device. These applications are used to edit video and sound on a time line, tasks that often call for scrolling horizontally.”
It may or may not be revolutionary, but Mighty Mouse is still innovative in that it does not sacrifice simplicity for those users who desire single-button functionality while giving advanced users features multi-button action and the ability to intuitively scrub in video and audio apps (a need that did not exist just a few short years ago).
If this thing were to ship with Mac’s, and furthermore had I never used a “real” two button mouse before it, then I might be inclined to agree with the suggestion that it’s design for ease of use actually works. That’s just not the case though, at least not as far as I’m concerned. The approach of the “single click - different fingers” just doesn’t work as-is and needs some serious fine-tuning, it’s unnatural, for me at least, to fully remove my left-clicking finger to use my right-clicking one - failure to do so results in a left click.
I’d agree too with the comment about a second button adding complexity - I’ve seen it a hundred times over with new PC users - HOWEVER, giving them a product that is flat-out flawed doesn’t really help that.
All of this hype… if only it were for something a bit more interesting. If it only takes a mouse with a lousy design to rock the Mac world, things must be slow. I’m using it for now, but only because it’s $49 gone for good.
Here’s more supporting evidence that Mighty Mouse is about accomodating all types of users without giving up simplicity.
A quote from the Apple VP of PRODUCT MARKETING is your “evidence”?
That’s like when Mac zealots “prove” how great Macs are by linking to apple.com press releases.
What if I posted some quotes from Steve Balmer as “evidence” that contradicts yours. How seriously would you take that?
All of this hype… if only it were for something a bit more interesting. If it only takes a mouse with a lousy design to rock the Mac world, things must be slow.
I agree. And in case it seems like I’m just gainsaying to the fanatics, here’s one of the things I ask myself before evaluating the zealotry.
“What if Microsoft released this exact same product?”
While there might some hype, would the Apple zealots react this same way with these same arguments? Would they point out the insignificant “new” features and pretend like its “innovative” or would they focus on the stuff we’ve seen and say exactly what I said in the other thread, “Welcome to 1985.”
Obviously it would be the latter, which makes all this rationalization moot. And further proof of that is all of the PREVIOUS rationalizations about the single-button mouse.
The zealotry basically works like this, and I’ll use Nathan’s quote because it fits so perfectly.
On sticking with the single-button mouse for 20 years: “I’m very satisfied with Apple’s choice here because [fill in the blank with whatever you want].” On adding a multi-button mouse: “I’m very satisfied with Apple’s choice here because [fill in the blank].” On using PPC over Intel chips: “I’m very satisfied with Apples choice here because [fill in the blank].” On switching to Intel and abandoning IBM: “I’m very satisfied with Apple’s choice here because [fill in the blank].”
See a pattern emerging? In the other thread, user “lavar” called Apple’s adding a multi-button mouse “a bad business decision” for Apple because it would screw over all the third party mouse vendors. But that was BEFORE the product was officiall announced. I wonder what that reaction might be right now.