I'm trying to imagine other platform users getting so excited over a mouse.
Is this a Mac thing ? Or just thirst for new product ? Where's the Newton 2005 PDA Micro-Mac of my dreams ?
i think you are mistaking interest and disbelief for excitement. it is, after all, just a mouse. none of us have any misconceptions on that part. it does try to do something no other mouse out there tries to do, so there is curiosity mixed in there too. but it's a curiosity everyone wants to see in person, bucking a twenty-plus-year stance by a company for which we thought a few things were utterly immutable, like intel processors.
and steve already said that newton-pda is on a shelf somewhere on cupertino's campus, never to see the light of day. and seeing how the pda market is literally flailing right now, eating its own young, i have to say the man had a decent idea NOT to pull the trigger on that project.
Hmmmm...I wonder how long this thread will last. I just wanted to chime in with a few thoughts I've had after 24 hours of thinking about this announcement.
The first thing I would like to say here is that I believe many of the comments in this thread are way off base. People keep comparing the Mighty Mouse to other third-party mice that are already on the market. The way I see it, this is foolish. Apple has absolutely no reason to attempt to compete with Logitech, Microsoft, or any other mouse maker. The third party mice have worked with Macs for quite some time, and anyone who has really wanted a multi-button mouse has bought one already.
Apple's true intention for releasing this mouse is to introduce those Mac users who started out with a single-button mouse to a whole new world of functionality. As stated several times here, there is no need for the average Mac user to have a second mouse button; all functionality is available with just the primary. But, I think Apple use studies have probably found that the ability to access certain functions directly, without modifier keys, can be of benefit to a good deal of intermediate-level users.
This mouse isn't meant for the game-jockey who has to be able to hold his right mouse button, while scrolling up on the wheel, and manically left-clicking. This mouse is meant for the word processor user who has found that highlighting a word, then finding the Edit menu and Copy action to be a bit tedious. Yes, this is a perfect example of the reason to learn keyboard shortcuts, but maybe Apple studies have found that a small context menu is actually the correct way to handle this kind of use.
By the way, I actually feel rather humble about the fact that I couldn't come up with a better use for the right mouse button than a context menu. I really hope that someone at Apple had a spark of genious, and one day stood up, shouting, "Wow! I finally know why another mouse button could actually be useful!" and is off implementing something rather more interesting than your average context menu. I'm a rather avid user of Xfig, and I must say that once I had used it for a bit, I absolutely fell in love with the way they map mouse buttons to different actions (things like "Start Line" and "Next Point" on the first button, "Cancel Line" on the second, and "End Line" on the third, for those of you who aren't familiar with it). No context menus there.
The thing that had me stumped for a bit was the deal about not being able to right-click unless you lift your left finger off of the Mighty Mouse. I finally realized, though, that this was exactly the correct way to handle the extra button. First, it means that any unsuspecting novice Mac user will never even have to know that another button exists. Second, it allows for much better ergonomics. I'd hazard to guess that more than 80% (probably closer to 90%) of mouse clicks are left clicks. Since this mouse allows you to press on both sides at once to use the primary button, it means you can use two fingers together to aleviate the stress that normally one index finger would have to endure (an argument used to promote the use of the single-button mouse). Absolutely brilliant. The only argument against this may be the stress caused by needing to lift the index finger off the mouse, but given that 80-90% usage I assumed earlier, this is much less of a problem.
So basically, I figure that Apple made exactly the move they wanted to, and exactly the move they should have. They won't be competing with other companies for business (unless the majority of people decide they like these mice even better than third-party options), and they're doing an impressive job of actually sticking to their usage guidelines, while also introducing some new ideas to their users.
***End Rationality, Start Speculation***
Now, given all of the above, I'd also like to say that I've been thinking about how this mouse could provide some interesting new usability features. These aren't yet in the Apple HIGs, and I don't know if it would even be possible to hack these things into this mouse, but they were ideas I found intriguing.
The first was the window-movement-by-squeezing I detailed in my first post of this thread. Basically, just using the squeeze buttons on the side to allow me to pick up and move a window (or maybe other objects I'm pointing to) without having to aim at the title bar. It seems like a reasonable idea, given the suggestion of many interface professionals that designers make buttons easy to click by puting them along borders, or by making them a bit larger (what's larger than a window?). Someone suggested that this may be AppleScript-able. I wish I were familiar enough with it to know whether that were true - maybe someone who does know can try.
The other ideas I have may, unfortunately, deal with hacking hardware, or possibly just drivers. The first dealt with the speaker that is onboard the Mighty Mouse. Could it be that we could make it generate sounds whenever we wanted. It could then be made somewhat force-feedback. Things like "feeling" the edge of a button or window as you roll over it. Or maybe even tapping out Morse Code messages as an alternate alert to the user. Seems open for development.
The other hardware-hacking idea goes back to the squeeze buttons. Someone else noted that the market-speak on Apple's website says something about "Force-sensing Side Buttons", but that this doesn't tell us whether they are actually analog buttons this a simple threshold-detection circuit for clicks, or if it is pure marketing BS for "buttons that you push". If they are actual analog buttons, this could maybe open up new ways to interact with things like graphics programs. Squeeze harder to push the brush on the canvas harder. Audio programs - squeeze to subtly adjust volume levels. Games - squeeze for Lunar Lander rocket control. This could be a terrible usability idea (both conceptually and ergonomically), but I thought I'd just muse for a bit.
Ok - sorry for the extra long post. I'm a bit new here (although I've been luking for a while), so forgive me if it's considered bad form to post in this manner. I thought some Mac enthusiasts might like to discuss my ideas, though.
......it does try to do something no other mouse out there tries to do, so there is curiosity mixed in there too. but it's a curiosity everyone wants to see in person, bucking a twenty-plus-year stance by a company for which we thought a few things were utterly immutable, like intel processors.......
to add to a quote by another poster, it's like discovering your girlfriend has actually been a hooker for the past 5 years, and then a few months later discovering that she's bisexual too.
Apple is a household name with its WIDELY popular iPod/iTunes combo.
Apple released a sub-$500 Mac.
Apple announced they are switching to Intel.
Apple released a multi-button mouse.
That's in the LAST YEAR, folks! Is it me or is all this even abnormal for Apple?
I welcome this, this is great...I know some Mac guys would have liked to see the iPod stay mac only and OSX be an extention of the peice of shit MacOS classic travisty...I welcome advance and p;rogress...and the mini is great.
5. PC's are beginning to abandon floppies. The "future PC" spec.
6. The G5 Powermac has always had ports on the front.
7. Good idea
8. You mean the EMac.
Off subject, I totally agree that mac cdroms should have eject buttons... keyboard key is retarded! You are obviously going to reach down to get the media when you eject it, why not just have a button down there to get it?
For years all of us argued about single button vs multi-button mice on macs. These discussions led no where! No matter how many valid points were on each side, it was a battle no matter what.
Well guess what... all of us got shut up by apple. Because now neither of us can bitch (cept those that are bitching before even using it). Fact is, this is a great thing for everybody. If this was bundled with my mac, I would seriously stop buying aftermarket mice.
I still think the Razer Pro is much cooler looking. The trackball is nice and all that, but I rarely scroll horizontally.
What I want is a bluetooth mouse that has built in rechargeable batteries. I am sick of using rechargeable AAs all the time when they should have just built in a battery.
Off subject, I totally agree that mac cdroms should have eject buttons... keyboard key is retarded! You are obviously going to reach down to get the media when you eject it, why not just have a button down there to get it?
For years all of us argued about single button vs multi-button mice on macs. These discussions led no where! No matter how many valid points were on each side, it was a battle no matter what.
Well guess what... all of us got shut up by apple. Because now neither of us can bitch (cept those that are bitching before even using it). Fact is, this is a great thing for everybody. If this was bundled with my mac, I would seriously stop buying aftermarket mice.
We should keep the key though. For recordable media such as Zips, the key prevents us from removing a disk that hasn't had its directories updated. This has always been one of the biggest problems on PC's. You can remove a disk that is corrupted by having outdated directories. The next time you insert the disk, Bang!
It's like removing a firewire drive without dragging its icon off first, thus dismounting the drive. You could trash the drive that way.
If anyone has ever read my posts, as infrequent as they are, all I have ever done is bitch about why some one couldn't build a great mouse. Not 50 million versions of the same thing (Logitech, et. al.)
Thank you Apple. It is like you read my posts, and said, "We need to make this guy a freaking mouse!"
I still think the Razer Pro is much cooler looking. The trackball is nice and all that, but I rarely scroll horizontally.
What I want is a bluetooth mouse that has built in rechargeable batteries. I am sick of using rechargeable AAs all the time when they should have just built in a battery.
I'll repeat this.
Not all devices can use batteries with a 1.2 volt spec. Regular batteries such as alkaline have 1.5 volts available. Some devices can't work below 1.1 volts. There would have to be an additional battery to account for this, and then the circuits would have to throttle the voltage down to compensate. too complicated for cheap devices. The cost and weight would probably be over the limit as well. Other wireless technologies use less power. Get one of those.
We should keep the key though. For recordable media such as Zips, the key prevents us from removing a disk that hasn't had its directories updated. This has always been one of the biggest problems on PC's. You can remove a disk that is corrupted by having outdated directories. The next time you insert the disk, Bang!
It's like removing a firewire drive without dragging its icon off first, thus dismounting the drive. You could trash the drive that way.
I agree the key is important. But why can't we have a button as well? It would be that hard to have an algorithm execute when the key is hit to prevent it from ejecting when it progress.
BTW, if someone is stupid enough to eject something on a pc before light is done flashing, then they deserve the disk to fail. I think that was the first thing I learned about computers back in 1st grade.
We should keep the key though. For recordable media such as Zips, the key prevents us from removing a disk that hasn't had its directories updated. This has always been one of the biggest problems on PC's. You can remove a disk that is corrupted by having outdated directories. The next time you insert the disk, Bang!
It's like removing a firewire drive without dragging its icon off first, thus dismounting the drive. You could trash the drive that way.
The only workaround would be to mount the equivalent of the soft-eject key with the media bay. Okay, now... do you install one on each *potential* media bay, adding useless cost? Do you have a special soft-eject key kit that one can get from Apple? In that case, who would buy the stupid thing when they can just reach down and hit the hard-eject key on the front of the drive? *blammo* Soft-eject is a very good feature, and the keyboard is perhaps the most logical place to put it. \
Hard-eject keys are a bother unless the user knows that a) the drive isn't being written to, b) all prior write requests have been flushed, c) the internal cache is cleared as well... yeah, not many users are going to understand or keep track of all that. Hence the "Wait 60sec after your last save before touching the drive" advice that I used to hear among the PC labs. No one knew *why*, just that if they didn't, bad things would happen. Until the save took longer than 60sec... oops. Braindead devices aren't any good when mixed with less-than-technically-inclined users, and soft-eject is such an *easy* feature.
BTW, if someone is stupid enough to eject something on a pc before light is done flashing, then they deserve the disk to fail. I think that was the first thing I learned about computers back in 1st grade.
Yeeeaaaah.... why not just avoid the whole problem, *and* the "Check to see if the disk is there, oops, maybe it's not, maybe I should tell the user I couldn't find the disk even though I've been showing it as available..." idiocy? Only stupid designs require their users to be careful. Good designs anticipate frequent errors or failure situations and simply don't let them happen easily.
The OS controls the computer. Period. You make requests of the OS for a network connection, not the Enet card, so why should eject be any different? There are a lot of things that *could* go wrong that are easily avoided with a simple change to soft-eject.
I agree the key is important. But why can't we have a button as well? It would be that hard to have an algorithm execute when the key is hit to prevent it from ejecting when it progress.
BTW, if someone is stupid enough to eject something on a pc before light is done flashing, then they deserve the disk to fail. I think that was the first thing I learned about computers back in 1st grade.
The button is what is called a "physical Layer". There is no feedback to the computer while it happens. The computer doesn't know the disk was ejected until after it occurs. There no light flashing to tell you anything. If the disk is idle, and you press eject, as soon as the head is moved out of the way, the disk is ejected.
Some might remember that back in the Good Old Days, Apple's floppies had a motor that ejected the disk for us. I still have a few lying around. They dropped those to cut costs.
If they were to do what you ask, they would have to get drives made specially for them, with the signaling built-in. That will never happen.
Comments
Originally posted by BRussell
Can you adjust the scrolling speed so you don't have to spin the ball as much? Or is it more the position of the ball than its speed?
The scroll sensitivity can be adjusted in the Preferences Pane and will certainly compensate for those who want to scroll quickly through pages.
As stated, the fit of the mouse in larger hands and the force required to press the side buttons are the weaknesses at this point.
Originally posted by jackthemac
I'm trying to imagine other platform users getting so excited over a mouse.
Is this a Mac thing ? Or just thirst for new product ? Where's the Newton 2005 PDA Micro-Mac of my dreams ?
i think you are mistaking interest and disbelief for excitement. it is, after all, just a mouse. none of us have any misconceptions on that part. it does try to do something no other mouse out there tries to do, so there is curiosity mixed in there too. but it's a curiosity everyone wants to see in person, bucking a twenty-plus-year stance by a company for which we thought a few things were utterly immutable, like intel processors.
and steve already said that newton-pda is on a shelf somewhere on cupertino's campus, never to see the light of day. and seeing how the pda market is literally flailing right now, eating its own young, i have to say the man had a decent idea NOT to pull the trigger on that project.
The first thing I would like to say here is that I believe many of the comments in this thread are way off base. People keep comparing the Mighty Mouse to other third-party mice that are already on the market. The way I see it, this is foolish. Apple has absolutely no reason to attempt to compete with Logitech, Microsoft, or any other mouse maker. The third party mice have worked with Macs for quite some time, and anyone who has really wanted a multi-button mouse has bought one already.
Apple's true intention for releasing this mouse is to introduce those Mac users who started out with a single-button mouse to a whole new world of functionality. As stated several times here, there is no need for the average Mac user to have a second mouse button; all functionality is available with just the primary. But, I think Apple use studies have probably found that the ability to access certain functions directly, without modifier keys, can be of benefit to a good deal of intermediate-level users.
This mouse isn't meant for the game-jockey who has to be able to hold his right mouse button, while scrolling up on the wheel, and manically left-clicking. This mouse is meant for the word processor user who has found that highlighting a word, then finding the Edit menu and Copy action to be a bit tedious. Yes, this is a perfect example of the reason to learn keyboard shortcuts, but maybe Apple studies have found that a small context menu is actually the correct way to handle this kind of use.
By the way, I actually feel rather humble about the fact that I couldn't come up with a better use for the right mouse button than a context menu. I really hope that someone at Apple had a spark of genious, and one day stood up, shouting, "Wow! I finally know why another mouse button could actually be useful!" and is off implementing something rather more interesting than your average context menu. I'm a rather avid user of Xfig, and I must say that once I had used it for a bit, I absolutely fell in love with the way they map mouse buttons to different actions (things like "Start Line" and "Next Point" on the first button, "Cancel Line" on the second, and "End Line" on the third, for those of you who aren't familiar with it). No context menus there.
The thing that had me stumped for a bit was the deal about not being able to right-click unless you lift your left finger off of the Mighty Mouse. I finally realized, though, that this was exactly the correct way to handle the extra button. First, it means that any unsuspecting novice Mac user will never even have to know that another button exists. Second, it allows for much better ergonomics. I'd hazard to guess that more than 80% (probably closer to 90%) of mouse clicks are left clicks. Since this mouse allows you to press on both sides at once to use the primary button, it means you can use two fingers together to aleviate the stress that normally one index finger would have to endure (an argument used to promote the use of the single-button mouse). Absolutely brilliant. The only argument against this may be the stress caused by needing to lift the index finger off the mouse, but given that 80-90% usage I assumed earlier, this is much less of a problem.
So basically, I figure that Apple made exactly the move they wanted to, and exactly the move they should have. They won't be competing with other companies for business (unless the majority of people decide they like these mice even better than third-party options), and they're doing an impressive job of actually sticking to their usage guidelines, while also introducing some new ideas to their users.
***End Rationality, Start Speculation***
Now, given all of the above, I'd also like to say that I've been thinking about how this mouse could provide some interesting new usability features. These aren't yet in the Apple HIGs, and I don't know if it would even be possible to hack these things into this mouse, but they were ideas I found intriguing.
The first was the window-movement-by-squeezing I detailed in my first post of this thread. Basically, just using the squeeze buttons on the side to allow me to pick up and move a window (or maybe other objects I'm pointing to) without having to aim at the title bar. It seems like a reasonable idea, given the suggestion of many interface professionals that designers make buttons easy to click by puting them along borders, or by making them a bit larger (what's larger than a window?). Someone suggested that this may be AppleScript-able. I wish I were familiar enough with it to know whether that were true - maybe someone who does know can try.
The other ideas I have may, unfortunately, deal with hacking hardware, or possibly just drivers. The first dealt with the speaker that is onboard the Mighty Mouse. Could it be that we could make it generate sounds whenever we wanted. It could then be made somewhat force-feedback. Things like "feeling" the edge of a button or window as you roll over it. Or maybe even tapping out Morse Code messages as an alternate alert to the user. Seems open for development.
The other hardware-hacking idea goes back to the squeeze buttons. Someone else noted that the market-speak on Apple's website says something about "Force-sensing Side Buttons", but that this doesn't tell us whether they are actually analog buttons this a simple threshold-detection circuit for clicks, or if it is pure marketing BS for "buttons that you push". If they are actual analog buttons, this could maybe open up new ways to interact with things like graphics programs. Squeeze harder to push the brush on the canvas harder. Audio programs - squeeze to subtly adjust volume levels. Games - squeeze for Lunar Lander rocket control. This could be a terrible usability idea (both conceptually and ergonomically), but I thought I'd just muse for a bit.
Ok - sorry for the extra long post. I'm a bit new here (although I've been luking for a while), so forgive me if it's considered bad form to post in this manner. I thought some Mac enthusiasts might like to discuss my ideas, though.
Originally posted by rok
......it does try to do something no other mouse out there tries to do, so there is curiosity mixed in there too. but it's a curiosity everyone wants to see in person, bucking a twenty-plus-year stance by a company for which we thought a few things were utterly immutable, like intel processors.......
to add to a quote by another poster, it's like discovering your girlfriend has actually been a hooker for the past 5 years, and then a few months later discovering that she's bisexual too.
like, awesome.. but freaky.
Apple is a household name with its WIDELY popular iPod/iTunes combo.
Apple released a sub-$500 Mac.
Apple announced they are switching to Intel.
Apple released a multi-button mouse.
That's in the LAST YEAR, folks! Is it me or is all this even abnormal for Apple?
Originally posted by CosmoNut
So let's recap the last year for everyone:
Apple is a household name with its WIDELY popular iPod/iTunes combo.
Apple released a sub-$500 Mac.
Apple announced they are switching to Intel.
Apple released a multi-button mouse.
That's in the LAST YEAR, folks! Is it me or is all this even abnormal for Apple?
I welcome this, this is great...I know some Mac guys would have liked to see the iPod stay mac only and OSX be an extention of the peice of shit MacOS classic travisty...I welcome advance and p;rogress...and the mini is great.
Originally posted by CosmoNut
So let's recap the last year for everyone:
Apple is a household name with its WIDELY popular iPod/iTunes combo.
Apple released a sub-$500 Mac.
Apple announced they are switching to Intel.
Apple released a multi-button mouse.
That's in the LAST YEAR, folks! Is it me or is all this even abnormal for Apple?
It's almost like they're going down a checklist, isn't it?
Originally posted by Hobbes
It's almost like they're going down a checklist, isn't it?
They most likely are.
1. Apple is a household name with its WIDELY popular iPod/iTunes combo.
2. Apple released a sub-$500 Mac.
3. Apple announced they are switching to Intel.
4. Apple released a multi-button mouse.
5. Apple adds floppy drives to Macs. Again.
6. Apple places ports on the fronts of their computers.
7. Apple puts eject buttons on their CD and DVD drives.
8. Apple bundles cheap-ass CRT monitors with all desktop Macs.
....and then what?!
Originally posted by BuonRotto
5. Apple adds floppy drives to Macs. Again.
6. Apple places ports on the fronts of their computers.
7. Apple puts eject buttons on their CD and DVD drives.
8. Apple bundles cheap-ass CRT monitors with all desktop Macs.
....and then what?!
Well, let's see.
5. PC's are beginning to abandon floppies. The "future PC" spec.
6. The G5 Powermac has always had ports on the front.
7. Good idea
8. You mean the EMac.
Originally posted by melgross
Well, let's see.
5. PC's are beginning to abandon floppies. The "future PC" spec.
6. The G5 Powermac has always had ports on the front.
7. Good idea
8. You mean the EMac.
Off subject, I totally agree that mac cdroms should have eject buttons... keyboard key is retarded! You are obviously going to reach down to get the media when you eject it, why not just have a button down there to get it?
For years all of us argued about single button vs multi-button mice on macs. These discussions led no where! No matter how many valid points were on each side, it was a battle no matter what.
Well guess what... all of us got shut up by apple. Because now neither of us can bitch (cept those that are bitching before even using it). Fact is, this is a great thing for everybody. If this was bundled with my mac, I would seriously stop buying aftermarket mice.
What I want is a bluetooth mouse that has built in rechargeable batteries. I am sick of using rechargeable AAs all the time when they should have just built in a battery.
Originally posted by emig647
Off subject, I totally agree that mac cdroms should have eject buttons... keyboard key is retarded! You are obviously going to reach down to get the media when you eject it, why not just have a button down there to get it?
For years all of us argued about single button vs multi-button mice on macs. These discussions led no where! No matter how many valid points were on each side, it was a battle no matter what.
Well guess what... all of us got shut up by apple. Because now neither of us can bitch (cept those that are bitching before even using it). Fact is, this is a great thing for everybody. If this was bundled with my mac, I would seriously stop buying aftermarket mice.
We should keep the key though. For recordable media such as Zips, the key prevents us from removing a disk that hasn't had its directories updated. This has always been one of the biggest problems on PC's. You can remove a disk that is corrupted by having outdated directories. The next time you insert the disk, Bang!
It's like removing a firewire drive without dragging its icon off first, thus dismounting the drive. You could trash the drive that way.
Thank you Apple. It is like you read my posts, and said, "We need to make this guy a freaking mouse!"
Originally posted by TKN
I still think the Razer Pro is much cooler looking. The trackball is nice and all that, but I rarely scroll horizontally.
What I want is a bluetooth mouse that has built in rechargeable batteries. I am sick of using rechargeable AAs all the time when they should have just built in a battery.
I'll repeat this.
Not all devices can use batteries with a 1.2 volt spec. Regular batteries such as alkaline have 1.5 volts available. Some devices can't work below 1.1 volts. There would have to be an additional battery to account for this, and then the circuits would have to throttle the voltage down to compensate. too complicated for cheap devices. The cost and weight would probably be over the limit as well. Other wireless technologies use less power. Get one of those.
Originally posted by melgross
We should keep the key though. For recordable media such as Zips, the key prevents us from removing a disk that hasn't had its directories updated. This has always been one of the biggest problems on PC's. You can remove a disk that is corrupted by having outdated directories. The next time you insert the disk, Bang!
It's like removing a firewire drive without dragging its icon off first, thus dismounting the drive. You could trash the drive that way.
I agree the key is important. But why can't we have a button as well? It would be that hard to have an algorithm execute when the key is hit to prevent it from ejecting when it progress.
BTW, if someone is stupid enough to eject something on a pc before light is done flashing, then they deserve the disk to fail. I think that was the first thing I learned about computers back in 1st grade.
Originally posted by melgross
We should keep the key though. For recordable media such as Zips, the key prevents us from removing a disk that hasn't had its directories updated. This has always been one of the biggest problems on PC's. You can remove a disk that is corrupted by having outdated directories. The next time you insert the disk, Bang!
It's like removing a firewire drive without dragging its icon off first, thus dismounting the drive. You could trash the drive that way.
The only workaround would be to mount the equivalent of the soft-eject key with the media bay. Okay, now... do you install one on each *potential* media bay, adding useless cost? Do you have a special soft-eject key kit that one can get from Apple? In that case, who would buy the stupid thing when they can just reach down and hit the hard-eject key on the front of the drive? *blammo* Soft-eject is a very good feature, and the keyboard is perhaps the most logical place to put it.
Hard-eject keys are a bother unless the user knows that a) the drive isn't being written to, b) all prior write requests have been flushed, c) the internal cache is cleared as well... yeah, not many users are going to understand or keep track of all that. Hence the "Wait 60sec after your last save before touching the drive" advice that I used to hear among the PC labs. No one knew *why*, just that if they didn't, bad things would happen. Until the save took longer than 60sec... oops. Braindead devices aren't any good when mixed with less-than-technically-inclined users, and soft-eject is such an *easy* feature.
Originally posted by emig647
BTW, if someone is stupid enough to eject something on a pc before light is done flashing, then they deserve the disk to fail. I think that was the first thing I learned about computers back in 1st grade.
Yeeeaaaah.... why not just avoid the whole problem, *and* the "Check to see if the disk is there, oops, maybe it's not, maybe I should tell the user I couldn't find the disk even though I've been showing it as available..." idiocy? Only stupid designs require their users to be careful. Good designs anticipate frequent errors or failure situations and simply don't let them happen easily.
The OS controls the computer. Period. You make requests of the OS for a network connection, not the Enet card, so why should eject be any different? There are a lot of things that *could* go wrong that are easily avoided with a simple change to soft-eject.
Originally posted by emig647
I agree the key is important. But why can't we have a button as well? It would be that hard to have an algorithm execute when the key is hit to prevent it from ejecting when it progress.
BTW, if someone is stupid enough to eject something on a pc before light is done flashing, then they deserve the disk to fail. I think that was the first thing I learned about computers back in 1st grade.
The button is what is called a "physical Layer". There is no feedback to the computer while it happens. The computer doesn't know the disk was ejected until after it occurs. There no light flashing to tell you anything. If the disk is idle, and you press eject, as soon as the head is moved out of the way, the disk is ejected.
Some might remember that back in the Good Old Days, Apple's floppies had a motor that ejected the disk for us. I still have a few lying around. They dropped those to cut costs.
If they were to do what you ask, they would have to get drives made specially for them, with the signaling built-in. That will never happen.