Comments on: The Three Button Mouse Phenomenon: A cultural trait found in those who love their computers

By: Dassie

Dassie — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:22:41 +0000

Funny blog post. Old, too!
Just for fun, today I installed an (ancient) 3-button serial mouse on an XP PC. Works fine, but I do miss a scrollwheel. The middle button seems to do nothing, though, and Google is not being my friend in trying to get the middle button to do something, anything. Maybe it’s a Windows driver thingie.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 23:17:07 +0000

Then there is something like this one which appears to have a middle button thingie PLUS a scroll wheel (plus buttons on the side)

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:57:45 +0000

Here's your mouse!

By: John

John — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:01:37 +0000

My 2 year old son just broke my 3 button 1990 mouse on my Linux machine. I’m trying to get by using a 2 button mouse w/ a scroll wheel that has a 3rd mouse button feature somewhere. I desparately need to fix my 3 button mouse or find a new “real” 3 button mouse.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:16:12 +0000

Here’s the problem with mouse buttons: http://xrl.in/72oz

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:50:14 +0000

Kelly, as Stephanie mentions, yes, this post is about the culture of Mac users (and Stephanie and her husband, who are good friends, are Mac users who have probably gotten quite annoyed at my guff in that regard!). There have always been multi-button mice available, so your point about them being made eventually is incorrect and, again, not really speaking to the point.

I’m not bashing Apple. I actually like Apple’s products in many ways. This is not a cheap shot. It is part of a larger set of posts on technology and culture. And yes, you are totally correct when you insist that “people are going to do what they are going to do” … somehow you have absorbed a key point of my post despite your best efforts to avoid that!

By: Brian X

Brian X — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:59:35 +0000

Apple based a lot of their early interface decisions on usability studies that they were doing at the time. One thing they did was to design the interface around a single button; on a single-tasking OS on a rather tiny screen, that was really all that was needed. People who gripe about old-school Macs having only one button are completely missing the point — a second button wasn’t even needed for the way the interface is designed.

GBurnett:

Dumb doesn’t enter into it. The idea was a consistent and intuitive interface — the Smalltalk interface that Apple had shelled out so much for a demonstration made rather confusing use of the mouse button (at least by 1979 standards) and the Mac (which was already working under a dictate of strict simplicity because of original project lead Jef Raskin) wanted something simpler and more robust. Menu bar at the top? That way you don’t overshoot the window looking for a command. No context menu? On a small screen, you didn’t need it. (In fact, it isn’t even that bad on a large screen — it’s just that people aren’t really used to it so they complain. Apple should have added it much sooner than Mac OS 8, but even then they probably did it mainly as a reaction to Windows.)

Greg:

the current Mac mouse situation is rather complex — the Mighty Mouse is actually a four-button mouse with a tiny trackball instead of a scroll wheel, and the new mouse is… hard to explain… but it’s more or less based on the current multitouch trackpad interface. Which is extremely cool, but hard to sum up in a sentence or two.

By: Stephanie Z

Stephanie Z — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:29:06 +0000

No, Kelly, you still missed the point. The point is in how the user responds to having it pointed out that the mouse is insulting and behind the times.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:53:00 +0000

No, I understood the point entirely – why did apple make something that was both insulting to customers and behind the times? The answer is – wait for it – irrelevant. Because now they make a 4 button mouse, so it’s a moot point. In all honesty, I feel like you’re just looking for ways to bash apple and in hindsight, no less. It’s a pretty cheap shot. But if you’re still using Linux, then why bother with the post? It’s like the complete opposite of a mac fanboy – you’re just looking for ways to say “f*ck apple”. But in the end, none of this matters, not even our posts, because people are going to do what they’re going to do – and that includes buying OS’s that you feel are inferior, despite your opinions.

But my original point still stands – who cares anymore? Get over it. Use whatever effing mouse you want with whatever OS you want. Live and let live, Greg. And then get over yourself.

By: GBurnett

GBurnett — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:30:25 +0000

Yes! That has been my biggest complaint about Macs forever. Number two is lack of customization, but that has improved with OS X. It’s just insulting to only be given one button; Apple is implying that you are just too dumb to use more than one button. I’m a trackball man myself, but jeez – I could not do without at least a second button and a scroll wheel.