[james9490]

I am an expert in computer usability, I've used many computers in the last 20 years, and I must say this: Mighty Mouse is THE worst mouse I have ever seen in my entire life.

1) Hidden button = Hidden interface = HUGE NO NO

Why is it that Apple somehow thought that computer novices can figure out one button really is two buttons just by looking at this mouse? There is no visual cue that it is actually a "multi-button" mouse, and there is no way of knowing there is a way to do "right-click" unless you already know how to trigger it. (which, by the way, doesn't work consistently.)

2) Scrolling wheel is MUCH better

Scrolling wheel is more predictable, smooth and easier to understand than a stupid little pointy thing stuck on top of the Mighty Mouse shell. Novices won't be able to tell whether it is a button, or something else. It looks and feels like some kind of useless decoration, and general users won't be able to tell that it even has a function of its own.

3) Buttons on the side = HUGE NO NO #2

You move your mouse sideway and you would most likely activate the side button accidentally. This will totally confuse novice users, and it is an usability nightmare.

Overall, Mighty Mouse really tells me that they only care about obscure geek users and not general computer users/novice users who need a computer that works the way they want. Sad, but true.....

[Judge_Fire]

I thought one of its usability benefits is that it by default functions like a one-button mouse, both in function AND affordance (one surface). This is the key difference to the 'no, grandma, click the left button!" mice.

This allows novice and expert users share a computer, as per-user preferences for the mouse behaviour are kept separate. The 'pros' go on to activate the hidden features that they are already aware of.

J

[RAILhead]

... about your opinion.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by james9490

I am an expert in computer usability

I am sorry, we will have to see your badge, and credentials.

[Eriamjh]

Why is it that Apple somehow thought that computer novices can figure out one button really is two buttons just by looking at this mouse? There is no visual cue that it is actually a "multi-button" mouse, and there is no way of knowing there is a way to do "right-click" unless you already know how to trigger it. (which, by the way, doesn't work consistently.)

You completely missed the point. Apple WANTS stupids users to not realize there is a second button. It keeps the simplicity of the single button mouse in the two button package. It stops them from getting confused and going into a stupidty coma.

Educated Mac users who buy the mouse and people who aren't so stupid they don't read the manual KNOW there is a second button and know how to use it.

[baw]

Originally Posted by james9490

I am an expert in computer usability

james9490
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Yeah, whatever.

[Maflynn]

Originally Posted by james9490

I am an expert in computer usability, I've used many computers in the last 20 years, and I must say this: Mighty Mouse is THE worst mouse I have ever seen in my entire life.
...
Overall, Mighty Mouse really tells me that they only care about obscure geek users and not general computer users/novice users who need a computer that works the way they want. Sad, but true.....

I don't know why your posting this in the lounge and not in the Peripherals forum nonethless, While I won't call myself an expert in computer usability, I have been using them since before the IBM PC came out, i.e., apple II.

I find no problems using the mouse, and I've noticed others in the apple store's also knowing that the 2nd button is there just not "visable" The scoll pimple has its advantages but overall the size I think makes it less usable then the scroll wheel.

As for the buttons on the side, well your reaching on that one, just about every multi-button mouse has them in some form and fashion

As for the popularity, time will only tell but there seems to be a huge group of obsure geek users since they are selling out of those babies.

Being such an expert you should have noticed the designs of the logitech MX series mice. The only thing that differentiates the buttons is the wheel. People seem to be able to figure out the right section of the mouse is the right mouse button. I assume most people will do the same with MM.

Is MM perfect, no, like I said the pimple is an interesting implementation, and I've gotten used to it, I just wish it was a little bigger. The side buttons are nice but only if they were not linked. I would have like to have assigned them to page up and page down like I have on my logitech button but overall its a nice design that a lot of people who are not experts in computer usability seem to like and that's the bottom line.

Mike

[baw]

[removed oversize image. --tooki]

[Doofy]

I've not used the Mighty Mouse but there seems to be some truth somewhere there. Any computer company which loses the space in between the function keys on their keyboard is obviously passing around the drugs in the ergonomics department.

Still. It could be worse - it could run Windows.

[joltguy]

Originally Posted by james9490

You move your mouse sideway and you would most likely activate the side button accidentally. This will totally confuse novice users, and it is an usability nightmare.

The quote above tells the whole story. You know, you could've at least tried the mouse before passing off your ridiculous "expert" opinion. Given the positioning and the force required to activate the squeeze buttons, I don't think there's any way somebody could trigger their functionality accidently. I've been using mine heavily for almost 2 weeks and have not had this problem.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by joltguy

The quote above tells the whole story. You know, you could've at least tried the mouse before passing off your ridiculous "expert" opinion. Given the positioning and the force required to activate the squeeze buttons, I don't think there's any way somebody could trigger their functionality accidently.

I had been triggering the side buttons accidently often enough to have to turn them off. Of course now after about 2 weeks of use I switched back to my Logitech wheel mouse because the Mighty Mouse scroll ball slips through and doesn't register movement properly any more (some genius decided to design the mouse so that it can not be cleaned – and honestly, even if it could be cleaned, cleaning the ball every week is not worth the effort to me for that sideways scrolling).

[christ]

James: I'm not an expert in user interfaces, or in computer usability.

I like the mighty mouse. I use several (not all) of the buttons, my wife and children just use one.

IMHO hiding functionality from those not equippped to use it is good practise, not bad.

It works for us.

"Mighty Mouse is THE worst mouse I have ever seen in my entire life" - Did you ever try to use a G3 imac hockey puck?

[Millennium]

Smoothness is not a desirable trait in a scroll wheel anyway. Most users prefer a wheel with discrete positions to which it can be turned. The scroll ball is more smooth than a scroll wheel, not less. However, from the perspective of most users, this is not a Good Thing.

And I've got to go with christ on the mouse thing. I'm not a fan of either one, but even the Mighty Mouse runs rings around the old Hockey Puck.

[james9490]

Originally Posted by RAILhead

... about your opinion.

Neither do I (about your posting). Thanks for a nice graphic, though. Amusing, indeed.

[james9490]

Originally Posted by Judge_Fire

I thought one of its usability benefits is that it by default functions like a one-button mouse, both in function AND affordance (one surface). This is the key difference to the 'no, grandma, click the left button!" mice.

Not quite so. When you have your grandma over the phone, she has a Mighty Mouse, and you need to teach her how to do "right-click," you are completely lost because there is no "right button" and you will have to explain a more complicated gesture of pressing the upper right area of the mouse. In general elderly people don't have fine motor skill, your grandma isn't an exception, and she would have the hardest time trying to figure out what it is that you are trying to teach her. If there is a right button they would be easily able to figure it out with just one sentense: "Click the right button." Well, there is a button. There you go. With Apple's Mighty Mouse she would be utterly confused.

[james9490]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

You completely missed the point. Apple WANTS stupids users to not realize there is a second button. It keeps the simplicity of the single button mouse in the two button package. It stops them from getting confused and going into a stupidty coma.

Educated Mac users who buy the mouse and people who aren't so stupid they don't read the manual KNOW there is a second button and know how to use it.

This kind of elitist attitude is what drove general computer users away from Apple. Windows platform is dominant for good reasons.

[christ]

Originally Posted by james9490

Windows platform is dominant for good reasons.

Maybe so, but the reason, if there is one, is not "this kind of elitist attitude".

Originally Posted by james9490

When you have your grandma over the phone, she has a Mighty Mouse, and you need to teach her how to do "right-click,"...

If you are in this situation, you have done something wrong.

1) Out of the box, mighty mouse doesn't have a "right-click", it is configured so both sides of the mouse "left-click". So Grandma can't right-click if she wants to. You could only be in this situation if some nitwit has configured a "right-click" for her, and this is unlikely because

2) The mac doesn't need "right-click" for anything, so if you are trying to explain "right-click" to her, you are explaining the wrong thing. If grandma is using Windows, she has more serious problems than her mighty mouse.

[james9490]

Originally Posted by Maflynn

As for the popularity, time will only tell but there seems to be a huge group of obsure geek users since they are selling out of those babies.

Most of these people buying Mighty Mouse are Apple followers/enthusiasts who would buy anything from Apple blindly without rational thinking.

Being such an expert you should have noticed the designs of the logitech MX series mice. The only thing that differentiates the buttons is the wheel. People seem to be able to figure out the right section of the mouse is the right mouse button. I assume most people will do the same with MM.

Just because everyone uses it doesn't mean it's right.

[christ]

Originally Posted by james9490

Just because everyone uses it doesn't mean it's right.

Yup. That's right. I refer you to a previous post:

Originally Posted by james9490

Windows platform is dominant

[james9490]

Originally Posted by joltguy

The quote above tells the whole story. You know, you could've at least tried the mouse before passing off your ridiculous "expert" opinion. Given the positioning and the force required to activate the squeeze buttons, I don't think there's any way somebody could trigger their functionality accidently. I've been using mine heavily for almost 2 weeks and have not had this problem.

What you don't realize is that it takes a little bit of squeezing on the side of Apple Mouse to click and hold because the whole upper shell is a mouse button. That's what makes so easy for non-geek users to make mistakes, and they shouldn't have to figure that out.

[Paco500]

I am an expert in asshats, I've known many asshats in the last 20 years, and I must say this: james9490 is THE biggest asshat I have ever seen in my entire life.

That being said, I'm not wild about the MightyMouse myself, but not really for any other reasons the asshat gave.

[AB^2=BCxAC]

Not everything has to be unexplained and interface designers should be shot if they think that bigger and retardedly obvious is always better.

No broken lines for no mouse buttons? Sensible: fewer places for crud to collect, less resistance for your fingers and therefore easier on the hand.

Not obvious? Anyone who doesn't read the GD instructions for Mighty Mouse, grandmothers included, ought to hand in their elementary school diploma.

Round scroll ball? Well, doesn't it make sense that it's more like a scroll ball for scrolling updown, sideways, etc if it's round?

You're taking for granted the first time you used a mouse, or ever double clicked... you've got 20 years of experience doing the same thing and you're biased against the new experience, assuming everyone wants to be conservative and keep things standardized for the lowest common denominator, and not for usability. Well then, how do you explained the popularity of programable mice with 8 buttons that the user sets for themselves? My grandma doesn't know why 7 of those buttons are there for... does that make it any less successful as a interface design for users? There's no start button in my finder, either, so I guess the whole Mac operating system is less intutive for Windows users, too.

I think it's EASIER for a novice to learn how to right tap click and scroll with the Mighty Mouse if they've never right clicked often before (aka alot of mac mouse users), than it is for you to get used to the new way of doing it.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by james9490

Windows platform is dominant for good reasons.

[turtle777]

-t

[james9490]

Originally Posted by christ

1) Out of the box, mighty mouse doesn't have a "right-click", it is configured so both sides of the mouse "left-click". So Grandma can't right-click if she wants to.

So why should even anyone buy Mighty Mouse, then, while they can buy a standard two-button mouse with ALL buttons enabled by default? Just one more thing they have to configure on MM.

2) The mac doesn't need "right-click" for anything, so if you are trying to explain "right-click" to her, you are explaining the wrong thing. If grandma is using Windows, she has more serious problems than her mighty mouse.

What you don't realize is that it takes far more steps to get anything done if you don't use contextual menus at all. The more steps you have to memorize, the more difficult it gets to learn something. Elderly people don't have good memory, and it is a bad idea to try teaching them how to do things without contextual menus.

[Kevin]

james9490 it's about choice. You can use it if you want, but you don't have to.

Stop being a whiney nellie.

You are coming off as a windlot that is zealous against the mouse just because Apple makes it.

This is no better than the people who would buy it just because Apple made it.

And no Windows is dominate because of anti-competitive practices that MS had (and probably still is) been practicing the past few decades. Not for "Good Reason"

As Windows is known to be the most bloated, insecure, crapfest of a OS made.

[james9490]

Originally Posted by Paco500

I am an expert in asshats, I've known many asshats in the last 20 years, and I must say this: james9490 is THE biggest asshat I have ever seen in my entire life.

That being said, I'm not wild about the MightyMouse myself, but not really for any other reasons the asshat gave.

Personal insult is not a way to discuss Mighty Mouse flaws. You probably don't have balls to debate this anyway, never mind.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by james9490

Personal insult is not a way to discuss Mighty Mouse flaws. You probably don't have balls to debate this anyway, never mind.

It's TEH way we discuss in the Lounge. Get used to it

-t

[RAILhead]

[turtle777]

^^^ Better not ask him about pussy, uhm, cat control

-t

[ReggieX]

Originally Posted by james9490

What you don't realize is that it takes far more steps to get anything done if you don't use contextual menus at all. The more steps you have to memorize, the more difficult it gets to learn something. Elderly people don't have good memory, and it is a bad idea to try teaching them how to do things without contextual menus.

People got along just fine without contextual menus for a mighty long time. If anything, not showing them the OPTIONAL contextual menus while they learn is better, since the menu bar's options are always present, making it easier to learn.

I sincerely doubt your "expertise" if you couldn't even think of this.

No one is forcing anyone to buy the Mighty Mouse, which is why it's an OPTIONAL peripheral. If you're so damned worried about old people, let them learn with one mouse button, and upgrade if and when they feel like it.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by james9490

So why should even anyone buy Mighty Mouse, then, while they can buy a standard two-button mouse with ALL buttons enabled by default? Just one more thing they have to configure on MM.

As Kevin said, the MM gives you the best of both worlds.

What you don't realize is that it takes far more steps to get anything done if you don't use contextual menus at all. The more steps you have to memorize, the more difficult it gets to learn something. Elderly people don't have good memory, and it is a bad idea to try teaching them how to do things without contextual menus.

That is really amusing. How does it take "far more steps" without right-clicking? Right-clicking is another step. I tell my grandmother that anything she wants to do can be found in the menu bar. She has to remember very little else; just go through the menus until you find what you want. After doing it for a while, she'll know right where to go to find her frequently used commands.

[james9490]

Originally Posted by Kevin

As Windows is known to be the most bloated, insecure, crapfest of a OS made.

Objection: Windows is NOT insecure. Vast majority of Windows security "flaws" come from simple user errors. Have you installed anti-virus software? Have you updated it? Have you scanned your system for spyware? Is Windows Firewall set up properly so all ports are closed down? It takes hell of a lot more effort to break in an average Windows machine than to steal a bunch of credit card receipts from a cash register.

In the mean time look at Apple. They aren't any better. A series of Security Updates have been released, and yet the thing is still not 100% secure. I bet they will find 1,000 more security flows and keep patching those every month until it's time for them to milk their customers again with OS X 10.5.

[christ]

Originally Posted by james9490

So why should even anyone buy Mighty Mouse, then, while they can buy a standard two-button mouse with ALL buttons enabled by default? Just one more thing they have to configure on MM.

Grandma shouldn't. And macs don't come standard with mighty mouse, they come standard with the one-button mouse that is the only mouse necessary with the Mac OS. What is your point?

Originally Posted by james9490

What you don't realize is that it takes far more steps to get anything done if you don't use contextual menus at all. The more steps you have to memorize, the more difficult it gets to learn something. Elderly people don't have good memory, and it is a bad idea to try teaching them how to do things without contextual menus.

What you don't realise is that Mac OS X is not Windows. Mac OS X is designed to be used without contextual menus. Contextual menus are add-ons for convenience to power users and Windows switchers. You don't have to memorise any more steps to use real menus, mouse clicks or keyboard shortcuts because contextual menus are present.

What is it about you and elderly people. Just because your grannie can't use something, it is not necessarily a bad design (I refer you to the Jet-Ski, as an example).

If you don't like MM, don't buy one. If you wish to learn about computer interfaces, read a book or take a course - an obviously mendacious declaration of capability is not a qualification. Just because you don't like something, or even if many people don't like it, does not necessarily make it a 'bad thing', nor does it make it a 'nightmare'.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by james9490

1) Hidden button = Hidden interface = HUGE NO NO

Why is it that Apple somehow thought that computer novices can figure out one button really is two buttons just by looking at this mouse? There is no visual cue that it is actually a "multi-button" mouse, and there is no way of knowing there is a way to do "right-click" unless you already know how to trigger it. (which, by the way, doesn't work consistently.)

Oddly enough, the mouse isn't even configured to right click AT ALL unless you explicitly set it to, in which case I'd think it's assumed that you already know how to trigger it (which, btw, works perfectly consistently every time I use one of our demo mice).

The real problem you're having is that there is absolutely nothing "intuitive" or self-evident about having two mouse buttons in the first place - it's learned behavior.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by james9490

Objection: Windows is NOT insecure. Vast majority of Windows security "flaws" come from simple user errors.

-t

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by james9490

Not quite so. When you have your grandma over the phone, she has a Mighty Mouse, and you need to teach her how to do "right-click," you are completely lost because there is no "right button" and you will have to explain a more complicated gesture of pressing the upper right area of the mouse.

Why would you need to do this in the first place? Fortunately for UI enthusiasts everywhere, Apple does not ship the Mighty Mouse with Macs, so that developers cannot assume the user has more than one button. This forces developers to design their UIs so that all functionality can be accessed with only the left (or the only) mouse button, which is Good UI Practice.

End result: unless your grandma specifically wants the Mighty Mouse, she doesn't have one, and therefore has no need to right-click in the first place. If she wants the Mighty Mouse, then she is probably advanced enough to know what a right-click is.

[christ]

Originally Posted by james9490

Objection: Windows is NOT insecure. Vast majority of Windows security "flaws" come from simple user errors. Have you installed anti-virus software? Have you updated it? Have you scanned your system for spyware? Is Windows Firewall set up properly so all ports are closed down? It takes hell of a lot more effort to break in an average Windows machine than to steal a bunch of credit card receipts from a cash register.

In the mean time look at Apple. They aren't any better. A series of Security Updates have been released, and yet the thing is still not 100% secure. I bet they will find 1,000 more security flows and keep patching those every month until it's time for them to milk their customers again with OS X 10.5.

My advice - go and learn about these things.

Windows IS insecure. There are reasons why, and some of these involve the user, but they do not negate the basic fact. The Mac may also be insecure, but that again does not make Windows secure.

A standard configuration mac, in the hands of a novice, is orders of magnitude more secure than a standard configuration PC in the hands of a novice.

Your grannie can't figure out which side of a mouse is which, yet you expect her to "install anti-virus software", "Update it" "Scan her system for spyware" (You missed out "Clean system if it gets infected" a simple job for even the newest user), "set up Windows Firewall properly so all ports are closed down" (and again you missed out "open up the ports that she needs to use the PC, without compromising security").

You don't appear to rate consistency very highly in your product critique.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by james9490

Objection: Windows is NOT insecure.

Object all you want. It's very insecure.

Vast majority of Windows security "flaws" come from simple user errors. Have you installed anti-virus software? Have you updated it? Have you scanned your system for spyware?

You shouldn't HAVE to do all those things. The fact you DO proves it is.

Is Windows Firewall set up properly so all ports are closed down? It takes hell of a lot more effort to break in an average Windows machine than to steal a bunch of credit card receipts from a cash register.

Tell me, why does MS leave all that stuff open by default anyhow?

In the mean time look at Apple. They aren't any better. A series of Security Updates have been released, and yet the thing is still not 100% secure. I bet they will find 1,000 more security flows and keep patching those every month until it's time for them to milk their customers again with OS X 10.5.

Um OS X is 10x more secure than Windows. Go look at the stats.

No system is 100% secure. Not with humans running it.

But OS X is tons closer than Windows is. Probably closer than it ever will be.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by james9490

Objection: Windows is NOT insecure. Vast majority of Windows security "flaws" come from simple user errors.

No, no they don't. They might come from user errors if users had to specifically turn on certain features or turn off security measures (the latter of which should never be allowed in the first place, but that's Windows for you). However, the opposite occurs: users actually have to turn on security measures or turn off features in order to make their boxes secure. If Windows is not secure by default, then it is not secure at all.

Thanks to another thread in the Lounge where someone likened OSX to a compartmented hull on a ship, I've thought of a good metaphor for Windows' security: the Titanic. You see, the Titanic had a compartmented hull, which was a revolutionary design at the time. The builders of the Titanic marketed the ship as 'unsinkable', largely due to this feature, because the ship could still float with several of the compartments flooded. However, the builders neglected to properly seal the compartments at the top, and so when the first compartment flooded, everything spilled over into the second, then the third, and eventually to all of them. The rest is history.

Despite the lack of lifeboats, the Titanic had so many safety features that it could have survived the infamous iceberg collision, if those features had been properly maintained right from the start. However, they were not properly maintained, and so it sank. Windows is similar: it has so many security features that it could be even more secure than OSX, if Microsoft used them effectively by default and didn't let the user turn them off at will, but because they don't do this they are inherently insecure.

Have you installed anti-virus software? Have you updated it?

Many PC manufacturers ship anti-virus software with every new machine nowadata, and they update it automatically too. It doesn't seem to be doing a lot of good.

Have you scanned your system for spyware?

Most spyware is only possible because of security holes which allow it to creep in without any kind of user intervention, not even installs. If those holes were closed, the spyware problem would disappear almost overnight, because Trojan installers aren't economically viable.

Is Windows Firewall set up properly so all ports are closed down?

Microsoft should be doing this by default.

It takes hell of a lot more effort to break in an average Windows machine than to steal a bunch of credit card receipts from a cash register.

I can write a bot to break into hundreds of Windows machine every day. I cannot build a robot to steal credit card receipts from cash registers. Tell me again which one takes more effort?

In the mean time look at Apple. They aren't any better. A series of Security Updates have been released, and yet the thing is still not 100% secure.

100% security is impossible, unless you've got the computer disconnected from the network and turned off. The real test of security is how the maker responds to vulnerabilities when they are found, and how easy it makes the update process. By any standard, Apple is miles ahead of Microsoft on both counts.

[effgee]

Originally Posted by james9490

I am an expert in computer usability, I've used many computers in the last 20 years, ...

Originally Posted by james9490

Objection: Windows is NOT insecure. Vast majority of Windows security "flaws" come from simple user errors. ...

You don't happen to work for Microsoft as a usability evangelist, do you? (That'd at least explain your preposterous statements about Windows)

And a bit of friendly advice ... starting out your very first post in any kind of public forum with the words:

tab"I'm an expert in A, have been working with B for decades and have thus determined that product C is sh!t"

will most likely not get you the reaction you might (or not) have hoped for (as in: instill an interesting debate) but will most likely result in little more than public ridicule and flogging. In all honesty - did you expect any other reaction from the folks here?

I'm not particularly fond of the MM myself (never tried it, though) but the way you approached this topic will, at best, get you the "troll of the day" award.

Fudgepickles.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by james9490

Windows platform is dominant for good reasons.

I'm getting the most disturbing vision of Bill Gates with a bullwhip...

Anyway, you say good reasons, as in plural. Name any one which doesn't involve running a specific program.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by james9490

Objection: Windows is NOT insecure. Vast majority of Windows security "flaws" come from simple user errors. Have you installed anti-virus software? Have you updated it? Have you scanned your system for spyware? Is Windows Firewall set up properly so all ports are closed down?

Yeah, Windows is completely secure as long as you install a bunch of extra software, update and run all this software religiously and learn how to set up a firewall.

And a sieve isn't leaky if you glue a plastic bag to the bottom.

[Oisín]

Am I seriously the first person here to take offence at james9490's characterizations of elderly people as a bunch drivelling nincompoops with no control over neither movement nor cerebral functions?

Not to mention, of course, the lack of consistency, logic, and common sense or reason that seems to be the only common thread running through his arguments.

But mostly, it's the gerontophobia.

[Mister Elf]

He probably doesn't even know what gerontophobia is...waste of a big word.

Originally Posted by james9490

Personal insult is not a way to discuss Mighty Mouse flaws. You probably don't have balls to debate this anyway, never mind.

Oh that's funny. After saying that insults aren't the way to discuss a mouse, you promptly go insult someone. A troll and a hypocrite...what a rare find...

[budster101]

Originally Posted by james9490

I am an expert in computer usability, I've used many computers in the last 20 years, and I must say this: Mighty Mouse is THE worst mouse I have ever seen in my entire life.

Then don't use it. Mr. Expert.

1) Hidden button = Hidden interface = HUGE NO NO

Why is it that Apple somehow thought that computer novices can figure out one button really is two buttons just by looking at this mouse? There is no visual cue that it is actually a "multi-button" mouse, and there is no way of knowing there is a way to do "right-click" unless you already know how to trigger it. (which, by the way, doesn't work consistently.)

Works for me, and it was quite intuitive to use. When one buys a mouse that scrolls and has 4 buttons, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. But, I guess you couldn't, so...so much for you being an expert then.

2) Scrolling wheel is MUCH better

Scrolling wheel is more predictable, smooth and easier to understand than a stupid little pointy thing stuck on top of the Mighty Mouse shell. Novices won't be able to tell whether it is a button, or something else. It looks and feels like some kind of useless decoration, and general users won't be able to tell that it even has a function of its own.

It's a button and a scroll wheel... are you slightly retarded? I've gone to the Apple store on many occasions and have observed people using it for the first time with no troubles... maybe it is your issue only?

3) Buttons on the side = HUGE NO NO #2

You move your mouse sideway and you would most likely activate the side button accidentally. This will totally confuse novice users, and it is an usability nightmare.

Overall, Mighty Mouse really tells me that they only care about obscure geek users and not general computer users/novice users who need a computer that works the way they want. Sad, but true.....

It's really hard to accidentally do this. The useability nightmare is pretty much yours alone as far as my own experience and observations have been concerned.

Guess what? Any mouse works with the computer. I've been using my scroll wheel mouse for over a decade now. Some advice to you. Don't buy it.

[Judge_Fire]

Originally Posted by james9490

Objection: Windows is NOT insecure. Vast majority of Windows security "flaws" come from simple user errors.

Having worked 11 years with product design, including usability, this quote confuses me.

Surely you admit that most 'user errors' are results of flawed design, aka. 'designer error'?

J

[effgee]

Originally Posted by Judge_Fire

Having worked 11 years with product design, ...

Judging from the tro ... ahem, James9490's comments, you need have at least two decades of usability experience under your belt in order to be able to even recognize the magnitude of his observations as well as his flawless line of reasoning.

I therefore suggest that us usability trainees shelve this thread for a couple of years and re-read it once we're worthy.

[james9490]

Originally Posted by turtle777

It's TEH way we discuss in the Lounge. Get used to it

-t

I am quickly discovering how immature this forum really is, and here you are, confirming my discovery.

I guess I will just take your advice and get used to it then.

[budster101]

Maybe he's a Windows "Useability Expert"...

Come on, admit it, You are Paul Thurrott right?