On Apr 1, 2005, at 4:29 AM, Stephen Kellett wrote:

> In message <1guc0yi.15zntkol3nbh0N%lucsky / mac.com>, Luc Heinrich 
> <lucsky / mac.com> writes
>> So yes,
>> Macs come with a one button mouse, here's your fact.
>
> Thank you. You were denying this yesterday. Who is spreading FUD?
>
> To open a context menu with a one button mouse you need to two hands 
> (one on the mouse, one to press the key on the keyboard that makes the 
> context menu work, wow, thats good UI design), with a two button mouse 
> you need one finger.

Then buy a two-button mouse. The vast majority of OS X apps today 
consistently map Ctrl-click to the contextual menu, so any good 
two-button mouse (I think I have the same one Bill Klebs has) can be 
easily mapped so the right button gives you the context menu.

Now, I agree with you that this should be the default; I'm not crazy 
about Apple's decision here. (Also, the hockey puck they shipped with 
the original iMac was an ergonomic disaster.) But that said, I don't 
think any platform is perfect, and any impassioned computer user is 
going to have a lot of configuration to get any platform set up. 
Personally, I'd rather buy a $15 two-button mouse for a Mac than learn 
how to get my printer, external monitor, digital camera, three external 
hard drives, and iPod to work with a Linux laptop. Or than learn how to 
make a Windows box secure. Not that I'm saying here that OS X is 
automatically the best choice for everybody. I'm just saying that 
computing isn't an ideal business, and any platform you choose is going 
to involve trade-offs. Just pick the trade-offs that are least painful 
for you.

There are lots of good reasons *not* to buy Apple products. But I don't 
understand this harping about the one-button mouse. With the options 
that OS X users have today, that just seems like a legalism to me.

Francis Hwang
http://fhwang.net/