A couple of months ago, my wonderful Logitech wireless mouse stopped working. I was busy and needed a replacement, so I grabbed the Apple Mighty Mouse that originally came with my iMac (still wrapped in cellophane) and plugged it into my computer. Here’s how I sum up using an Apple mouse: It sucks.
The whole design of the Apple Mighty Mouse is flawed. Not having a defined left and right side leads to inaccurate clicking all the time. Squeezing the sides to enable a function feels awkward, to say the least. Within weeks, the scroll ball became unresponsive, requiring cleaning and blowing to get it working again. It still doesn’t work properly.
Apple’s ineptitude with mice is the best example of how it lets aesthetics get in the way of usability sometimes. Since the hockey puck design that shipped with the original iMac, Apple has consistently dropped the ball on making a decent mouse.
Apple mice don’t fit well in your hand, and are still set by default to act as a one-button mouse. I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked why Macs don’t have right-click, even by computer savvy people. It’s 2009. Everybody wants to right-click to copy or delete. Consumers shouldn’t have to go into System Preferences to make their mouse functional. It’s quite funny actually – Mac users are spoiled with the best hardware and software in the world, but are still saddled with a pathetic excuse for a pointing device.
Apple needs to provide a mouse that is functional & ergonomic – you know, like the wonderful keyboard they ship alongside the Mighty Mouse? Apple’s War on Buttons makes sense for a lot of things, but this is not one of them. Give Mac users a mouse that doesn’t feel cheap, that’s accurate, and with buttons that have a tactile response. At least a few real buttons, so that users don’t have to squeeze it just to see their Dashboard.
Until then, I’m off to the store – I need to buy a new Logitech mouse.
Elias Makos 