[comp.misc] Zero Button Mice

gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu (12/22/89)

Why this *religious* argument about multi v.s. single button mice?
There is no such thing as a single-button mouse machine.  With the
macintosh, the 2nd button has moved to the keyboard.  It's the "Shift"
key.  The only real innovation in the Mac is saving $2 on an extra
switch, and simplifying the mouse.

In the macintosh, the shift key lets you extend a selection.  In other
systems, the 2nd mouse button is often used for this (at least on
Xerox 6085's in MESA).  The macintosh suffers from inferior scrolling.
With two mice buttons, you can select anywhere in a scrollbar and
indicate a direction with the appropriate button.  The 6085 Viewpoint
system adopted the Mac's inferior scrolling (in my opinion, out of
disrespect for their user's intelligence).

Of course, what'd I'd *really* like to see is a ZERO button mouse.
That would really simplify things tremendously.

No it wouldn't.  You'd just be hitting keys on the keyboard all the time.