Who is the Mighty Mouse's intended market?
I'm confused. The MM seems to be a contradiction wrapped in a white plastic shell. After using mine for an admittedly short period of time, I am thinking it was not not intended for the likes of me. My impression after using this mouse is that Apple really didn't want to make it. They came into the multi-button world kicking and screaming. The only thing that would make sense is if this mouse was going to be the default mouse in all Mac kits. Enough rambling. Let me explain.
If this mouse was intended for the two button crowd, then Apple should not have wasted so much effort trying to make people in the one-button world feel comfortable. A two button user has to overcome a learning curve in how to access the secondary button. You really do have to make a conscious effort to lift all but one finger from the upper shell to activate the secondary function. Make no mistake about it. This definitely takes some getting use to. Apple has found a way to make the primary function of a multi-function mouse to be difficult. The choice to go with a single-button design does no favors for the multi-button user. Frankly, it doesn't help the single-button user either because it makes activating the second button unnecessarily tricky.
When the software is installed, the MM in all its multi-button glory, is reduced to a one-button mouse. This makes absolutely no sense unless Apple assumes the person installing the software is a one-button user who is afraid of more than one button. Why would such a person go out of their way to buy this mouse? The purchaser must go into the Control Panel, not so much to personalize the settings, but to activate basic functionality. There is no other mouse on the market that requires you to go into the control panel just to use the secondary button. It is as if Apple is saying "Are you sure you really want to do this?" Of course we want to do it! We bought a multi-button mouse. Didn't we!
The mouse also lacks standard multi-button features. The BACK button for Web browsing is almost as ubiquitous as the scroll function. Apple has placed obvious buttons on the sides that one should at least be able to program for this function. Instead, the user cannot assign this common function to any button. It would be like having a scroll feature that allowed horizontal scrolling but prohibited vertical scrolling. The exclusion of this function is utterly baffling to me. Also, every mouse manufacturer seems to be able to enable full programability into their drivers. Apple either can't or won't allow users to configure the product to their liking. What is wrong with assigning keystrokes and modifiers? Why does the application switching function require more steps than other devices? You can't just quickly activate the function and automatically switch to the previous application. No. You have to activate the function and then manually select the application. Again, Apple has chosen to complicate something that needed no improvement.
The only thing they truly improved in the mousing experience IMO is scrolling. The scroll ball is almost worth the price of admission. It would have been better if they had made it a little larger. Again, its presence seems to be a grudging concession.
All in all, Apple made a one-button mouse with scroll for one-button users. Multi-button users can also use this mouse, but only if they are willing to relearn mousing behavior, settle for fewer than standard features in a mouse of this class, and jump through Apple's hoops to activate basic multi-button functionality. Again, all of this makes perfect sense if Apple is planning to ship this mouse standard. But that seems to be highly unlikely. Still, I will give it another few days. Perhaps it will grow on me. Those who have used it for while, please feel free to correct any factual errors and let me know how your impressions differ from mine. Perhaps I just need an attitude adjustment.
Thoughts?
If this mouse was intended for the two button crowd, then Apple should not have wasted so much effort trying to make people in the one-button world feel comfortable. A two button user has to overcome a learning curve in how to access the secondary button. You really do have to make a conscious effort to lift all but one finger from the upper shell to activate the secondary function. Make no mistake about it. This definitely takes some getting use to. Apple has found a way to make the primary function of a multi-function mouse to be difficult. The choice to go with a single-button design does no favors for the multi-button user. Frankly, it doesn't help the single-button user either because it makes activating the second button unnecessarily tricky.
When the software is installed, the MM in all its multi-button glory, is reduced to a one-button mouse. This makes absolutely no sense unless Apple assumes the person installing the software is a one-button user who is afraid of more than one button. Why would such a person go out of their way to buy this mouse? The purchaser must go into the Control Panel, not so much to personalize the settings, but to activate basic functionality. There is no other mouse on the market that requires you to go into the control panel just to use the secondary button. It is as if Apple is saying "Are you sure you really want to do this?" Of course we want to do it! We bought a multi-button mouse. Didn't we!
The mouse also lacks standard multi-button features. The BACK button for Web browsing is almost as ubiquitous as the scroll function. Apple has placed obvious buttons on the sides that one should at least be able to program for this function. Instead, the user cannot assign this common function to any button. It would be like having a scroll feature that allowed horizontal scrolling but prohibited vertical scrolling. The exclusion of this function is utterly baffling to me. Also, every mouse manufacturer seems to be able to enable full programability into their drivers. Apple either can't or won't allow users to configure the product to their liking. What is wrong with assigning keystrokes and modifiers? Why does the application switching function require more steps than other devices? You can't just quickly activate the function and automatically switch to the previous application. No. You have to activate the function and then manually select the application. Again, Apple has chosen to complicate something that needed no improvement.
The only thing they truly improved in the mousing experience IMO is scrolling. The scroll ball is almost worth the price of admission. It would have been better if they had made it a little larger. Again, its presence seems to be a grudging concession.
All in all, Apple made a one-button mouse with scroll for one-button users. Multi-button users can also use this mouse, but only if they are willing to relearn mousing behavior, settle for fewer than standard features in a mouse of this class, and jump through Apple's hoops to activate basic multi-button functionality. Again, all of this makes perfect sense if Apple is planning to ship this mouse standard. But that seems to be highly unlikely. Still, I will give it another few days. Perhaps it will grow on me. Those who have used it for while, please feel free to correct any factual errors and let me know how your impressions differ from mine. Perhaps I just need an attitude adjustment.
Thoughts?
Comments
so there is certainly a huge market.....even if it's actually a market of suckers
Originally posted by Bronxite
you bought it and so have thousands of others.
so there is certainly a huge market.....even if it's actually a market of suckers
I think he is right this mouse is intended for being put as default with new macs.
But why not start by selling it to people who really are willing to pay extra for it. Then once they are exhausted you bundle it.
Originally posted by salmonstk
I think he is right this mouse is intended for being put as default with new macs.
But why not start by selling it to people who really are willing to pay extra for it. Then once they are exhausted you bundle it.
exactly, as with many apple products, it has a market of suckers until apple makes it standard or more worthwhile
All in all, Apple made a one-button mouse with scroll for one-button users.
Exactly. Users who are accustomed to the standard two-button mouse with scroll wheel and specialty buttons should know not to purchase this mouse.
This mouse is for the one-button user who wants to use the scroll wheel. A current one-button user won't have any trouble lifting the left button finger to activate the RMB - they are not habituated to the standard two-button mouse.
The reason that the RMB feature is turned off by default is, as has been said many times, so that developers will not be able to have standard application functions that work ONLY on the RMB, because it will be DISABLED by default.
I figured that I could at least get more functionality out of it with USB Overdrive. Unfortunately, it won't work with Apple's new mouse drivers installed. Furthermore, there is no way to uninstall the Apple drivers. I have read a couple of threads where others have gone through the exact same thing as I have and were told by Apple that the drivers cannot be downgraded or uninstalled. In other words, once you try the MM, you're screwed. The drivers take over the mouse and make it impossible to fully program a different mouse with USB Overdrive.
So, I did what any desperate person would do. I downloaded a program to uninstall the uninstallable. And, whadoyaknow? It totally screwed up my keyboard too. The preference pane could not be accessed and nothing but the letters on my keyboard could be used. In spite of all that, USB Overdrive still would not recognize my mouse. Nothing left to do now but reinstall the OS. An hour later, done. USB Overdrive now recognizes my mouse and I can configure everything. Unfortunately, that does not lead us to a happy ending. You see, when I reinstalled the OS, I forgot to jump through the hoop of Archive and Install. I did not back up anything. I lost sooo much valuable data, I was nauseated. Never do a reinstall when you are frustrated and distracted.
The moral of this story? If you are a multi-button user, stay away from the MM. Unless you never plan to fully configure another mouse with USBO, then do not for any reason install the new Apple mouse drivers. Also, don't throw your money away on an $80 mouse unless you absolutely have to have a particular feature. Consider this the lighthouse and the MM the cloud-covered, dangerously rocky shore. You've been warned.
Originally posted by Mac Voyer
I was hoping someone would argue against my thesis. Instead, you all have merely confirmed that I am an idiot.
you're not an idiot. i wanted one, so do a lot of people. it's really hard not to give into apple's marketing and persuasion
Originally posted by Mac Voyer
I was hoping someone would argue against my thesis. Instead, you all have merely confirmed that I am an idiot. Oh, well. I can handle the truth. My local Apple store has a fourteen day return policy so chances are good that I will return it for a full refund and try a Microsoft solution. I actually use horizontal scrolling quite a lot. The little nub really is a joy to use. I just wish some other company will hurry up and steal the idea and slap it on a better mouse. Does this make me a heretic?
Back in my early Apple days, IIe, I bought Apple's brand new 3.5" disk drive. I don't exactly remember but I think it cost something like $400. Talk about being an idiot.
Originally posted by Mac Voyer
Time to put this sorry rant of a thread to bed. I returned the MM for a full refund determined to go out and buy a real mouse. After much debate, I finally went with the Logitech MX 1000. It was way too much money to spend on a mouse. I found the horizontal scrolling to be unusable because it was too slow even at the highest setting. I also found the build quality to be rather disappointing. It felt cheap. It felt like a piece of crappy PC hardware. The click and scroll function did not work on the Mac. And the placement of some of the buttons was somewhat awkward. It is no improvement on previous designs. All and all, I was not terribly thrilled.
In defense of the mx1000 mouse, for the $60 vs. $50 of the mighty mouse, you get a cordless mouse with Li-ion batteries. Laser tracking mechanism that can work on many more surfaces and can track better/faster than 95% of corded or cordless mice. A back button. Ergonomic design. You can press more than one button at a time, useful in some apps and many games. Personally I think it feels solid and well built aside from the side button.