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My Turn is Low End Mac's column for reader-submitted articles. It's your turn to share your thoughts on all things Mac (or iPhone, iPod, etc.) and write for the Mac web. Email your submission to Dan Knight .

Two Buttons Too Different?

Mathias Dubois
2001.04.04

OK, right, fine. I´m sitting at my brand new Ti PowerBook, enjoying all the comfort and high end technology it PowerBook G4 offers. Everyone else at my office is using a PC, and I can see them staring at my fine computer with envy - except for one thing.

It still has a one button mouse?

Right, yeah, it has. I am fed up with it, myself. To tell the truth, I am using a two button mouse with a wheel with my G3 and G4 PowerBook, and I wouldn't give it up. The most die hard Mac user I know, a guy who, in the past, refused to install PC exchange on his 8500, was nevertheless using a four-button mouse at that time.

I mean: what's the deal? The old calculator in the Apple menu is surely a nostalgic reminder of how things used to be, and everyone is aware that the good old Macintosh featured a mouse before any other computer on the market, but is this a reason to stick to old fashioned values?

Will the Mac remain the one mouse button computer forever? I personally hope not. Many good features have crossed between platforms during the last years, but users who want to enjoy the ease of using more than one finger are still forced to turn to third-party products with more functionality, but sometimes worse driver software.

What makes Apple stick to the single button? Is it the stubborn affirmation that "we introduced the mouse, and we will not take any advice on how it can be enhanced?"

Think twice. Think better. Let us use our fingers!

Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.

Recent My Turn articles

Using Low End Macs for Internet Radio, 08.18. When the local public radio station moved classical music to HD radio, it was time to find another way to listen. An old iMac with iTunes solved the problem.
'That's Not a Computer', 07.30. Salvaging a broken PowerBook by turning it into a desktop computer.
Upgrading a Digital Audio G4 to work better in Leopard, 06.02. In its original configuration, the dual 533 MHz Power Mac G4 was slow with Mac OS X 10.5, but add the right upgrades, and it runs Leopard quite nicely.
My 4 favorite PowerBooks, 05.28. The PowerBook 150 has a big screen for a vintage PowerBook, the 165c has color, the 100 is diminutive, and Lombard has USB and a great keyboard.
More in the My Turn index.

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