[Androgeos Exeunt]

The old Macintosh mouse is a bit unwieldy, even if you know that it has two buttons to the side and that the little ball at the front can be clicked with some difficulty.

This is why I still prefer my standard three-button mouse ... which was made by Microsoft.

[Nuke]

i liked old macs. its amazing what you can do with an os that fits entirely on a single floppy disk. the one button mouse didnt bother me because thats how the os was designed. windows was designed for a 2 button mouse and so its a requirement there. but from a gamers perspective you want between 4 and 8 functions on that mouse (8 being about the maximum you can use comfortably). i dont know why windows doesnt have a keymapping utility built in where you can assign any function to any control on any input device. i think linux can do that by editing config files. not sure about osx.

[Pred the Penguin]

Have any of you guys checked out apples new mouse?

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Oh yeah, I read a little about it on the Apple website. They call it the Magic Mouse, and from how I look at it, it has zero buttons.

http://www.apple.com/magicmouse/

[redsniper]

Hrm... I still like being able to click and get some tactile feedback...

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Same here. Just like James May finds it weird to steer a car using twist-squeeze throttles and brakes on the steering wheel, I'm very certain that I'll feel a lot less secure using the Magic Mouse.

It might make an interesting topic at a computer geeks' party, though. "Hey, check out my zero-button mouse from Apple..."

[SpardaSon21]

Huh.  This "magic mouse" might actually be useful if the marketing is correct.  Or it could just be an overpriced attempt to add useless features that no one will ever use in an attempt to make Macs look more modern than PC's.

[Nuke]

you took away my knobs and now you want to take away my buttons? **** YOU!

[Janos]

goddamn my satire was obsolete from the beginning

[Admiral LSD]

Huh.  This "magic mouse" might actually be useful if the marketing is correct.  Or it could just be an overpriced attempt to add useless features that no one will ever use in an attempt to make Macs look more modern than PC's.

As much as I like the multi touch scroll gesture on my MacBook (I have the right click gestures disabled because the standard one kept getting in the way of the scroll and it won't let me have two fingers + click while tap to click is enabled. My particular MacBook doesn't support the rest.), I'm not sure how it would work on a mouse. Looking at the reviews, they've altered some of the gestures in order to more closely replicate standard mouse actions. For instance, the scroll gesture is triggered with a single finger meaning you move to the centre and scroll like you would with a normal wheel mouse without thinking about it.

I'm not sure how well the multifinger gestures would work in that situation though. They may get uncomfortable after a while due to limited mobility of the fingers as a result of not being able to use the arm or wrist (which would be tied up holding the thing steady). Their software for ignoring accidental input would have to be pretty good as well since the entire surface is multitouch. If it can't adequately discern between genuine input and things like people resting their hands on it or minor movements of the fingers on the "buttons" then no matter how well the gestures work otherwise, it'll be too annoying to use.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Perhaps they use the iPod's touchscreen technology, which is working well for me so far.

[Nuke]

touchscreen technology is nothing new, itd been around for at least a couple decades. frankly i always thought it was a bad idea to encourage users to poke at their lcds.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I agree. Wouldn't touching the screen make the liquid crystal layer uneven?

[Mongoose]

Plus, you wind up getting greasy fingerprints all over the thing.

[Nuke]

^this

[Pred the Penguin]

Actually, I think the Magic Mouse can still... click.

It's interesting, but I'm okay with my PC mouse... that I use on a Mac.

[Nuke]

so they put a pizo in the thing to emit a clicking sound when you touch a button area.
just not the same.

[Topgun]

or it does like those phones and vibrates.

[Nuke]

ewww, thats discusting, but leads to intresting cyber sex possibilities 

[Topgun]

mouse porn