[OT] Pigs Fly

[Richard Gaskin]

Judy Perry wrote:
> I knowe you and others doubtless believe this.  So, a uni-button mouse
> scores higher on 2 out of 3.  Not bad.  As for 3, productivity, that's
> something that comes later, as an advanced skill

The majority of people who buy computers today have used one before. 
There are no doubt many who haven't (likely the majority of the world's 
people), but from a manufacturer's point of view the main question is 
"Who's buying our boxes and what can we do for them?"

So among those likely to buy computers, in the 21st century apparently 
Apple believes the market has matured enough to warrant two-button 
functionality.

While learnability is important, learning happens exactly once.  From 
then on it's all about productivity for the rest of one's computing life.

By providing a mouse that people's productivity can grow with, Apple may 
indeed be risking the learning curve for a subset of their market.  But 
given Apple's dedication to learnability I have to trust their judgement 
on this.

Besides, even if I disagreed with them, would they listen to me?  The 
multi-button functionality is about to become the universal standard, 
whether we disagree with Apple or not.

It would seem that the minority who may have trouble learning computing 
with multi-button mouse functionality are the ones Apple is now 
suggesting purchase a specialized mouse.


> Another issue I have with the right-clicking is that it sometimes
> seriously violates Schneiderman's articulation of the direct manipulation
> paradigm in that the user can sometimes right-click on nothing in the
> middle of nowhere.

Where in a modern GUI is "nowhere"?  Even the Desktop is a place, and 
has properties.

> So, I'm happy to hear of another uni-button Apple mouse.

Apple's new mouse a multi-button mouse in terms of functionality. 
Whether Apple succeeds in a cleaner design to provide that 
functionality, or instead confuses people by making the delineation 
between left and right unclear, remains to be seen.  Sometimes they get 
it right (the iPod wheel) and sometimes not (the hockey puck iMac mouse).

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Managing Editor, revJournal
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