Originally published August 7 2005
Apple hauls mouse technology into 1990s
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
If you thought Apple's decision to adopt Intel processors was a sign of a seismic shift at the Mac maker, today's announcement of a new mouse will really rattle the continents: It's got more than one button.
One of the few eternal verities of computing is...no longer a verity.
The rumors were true: After twenty-one years, Apple has introduced a mouse with more than one button.
What has seemed like one of the defining differences between the Mac and Wintel platforms is no more.
The new Mighty Mouse (yes, it's officially named after the superheroic rodent--nice touch) is on some level a no-button mouse--like other Apple models, you press down on the entire mouse to click.
But if you press on left side, you get a left click; if you click on the right side, you get a right click.
Mighty Mouse also has touch-sensitive 360-degree scrolling (you can run a finger around on the upper part of the mouse's surface).
It's a corded model that costs $49.
And it's from Apple, so the aesthetics look to be impeccable.
Truth to tell, the Mac platform's one-buttonedness (is that a word?) has been more of a conceit than a practical reality for a long while now.
Third parties have made Mac-friendly mice with two (and more) buttons for years, and the Mac OS has fully supported them.
So Apple aficionados haven't really been deprived of their right to right-click.
Still, Apple's resistance to two-buttoned progress is legendary--Google around, and you'll find tons of pages that discuss it, both pro and con.
I'll be curious to see if any die-hard Macheads--still in emotional tumult over Apple's switch to Intel chips--are traumatized by this development.
Of course, I'm a part-time Machead myself--I have a PowerBook, which I never use with an external mouse.
So for me the next obvious question is: Will Apple start making notebooks with two-button touchpads?
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