I like those magnificent Apple single-button mice! Single-button mice are my friends!

Bravo, Brian. I'm not so concerned about a desktop, since you can use any 3rd party mouse, but this is the one thing I hate about my PowerBook. OS X's context menu functionality is awesome, and there are tons of free context menu add-ons out there that do some amazing things. Now what makes more sense, clicking a right mouse button or using a mouse+keyboard combo?

It is utterly beyond me why people actually WANT to have to right-click stuff. Yeah, now we can be just like the Windows people and turn our mouse into a second keyboard!

Not interested. Not in the slightest.

In my opinion, it has nothing to do with being "just like the Windows people" and everything to do with functionality and productivity.

I've been using the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer for years now and to go back to even a two-button mouse no longer makes sense to me. I have a drawer full of new-old-stock Mac keyboards and mice that I never used...time for some housecleaning. As mentioned, it's not a Windows/Mac issue, it's a productivity issue. I cannot function in the Mac world without the "right-click" function; it's simply invaluable.

Sigh.

A 2 button mouse is cheap, and readily available - so go get one already. Laptop users - go look up Sidetrack.

Apple giving away 2 button mice would be a BIG MISTAKE. Context menus are useful ONLY if they are shortcuts to other, discoverable options such as the menubar. Ever run into an app on Windows that you can't figure out? How many times did you right click on random things before finding the command you were looking for? By making the baseline 1 button, Apple forces developers to make all their functionality *discoverable*, and usually obvious. This has had a very positive influence on interface design on the mac.

Of course keeping the window close button away from the minimize and zoom buttons was an important usability feature too. Sigh.

I am not really interested in an overpriced, under-featured mouse from Apple. I like my 5 button Kensington mouse that only cost me $20 just fine.

>In my opinion, it has nothing to do with being "just like the
>Windows people" and everything to do with functionality and
>productivity.

you forgot a little word: "perceived".

either way, I have no clue why people get so excited about this particular rumor. It seems to resurface every year or so.

My favorite quote goes:

"Oh yeah—the Mac doesn’t have just a two-button mouse.  If you’re going to count the Control-click, you should also count the Command-click, Shift-click, Option-click, Ctrl-Opt-click, Ctrl-shift-click, etc etc…"

Fitts's Law:
The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target.

Pop Quiz:
What's the closest pixel relative to your mouse cursor?

Answer:
The one right under it.

Contextual menus are one of the greatest innovations in the world of interface design. Right mouse buttons are our friends!

Seeing how I have an opinion on this one, I'm going to give it!

Apple is said to have some of the dandiest engineers around. A quick look at the hardware lineup and some of the things they've accomplished will assure this.

What I don't understand is how a company who has such a wonderful operating system, pushes the latest technology into their systems, and gives an overall "easy, pretty, powerful" experience, would EVER even consider a one button mouse.

You all remember the hockey-puck. That mouse was a serious joke.

Apple giving one button mice for its users is like getting a brand new 80 inch plasma tv, with no remote.

Or maybe a remote with one button: On/Off.
Just brilliant isn't it.

It isn't so much a problem that Macs ship with a one-buttoner, as I can quickly snag a 20 buck mouse (like has been mentioned), it's a matter of principle.

All macs should come standard with a 5 button mouse.
/rant

I love 2 button mice with a scroll wheel & I'm not to keen on single button mice.

What heavy users like people on this forum forget though is the millions of people out there who just use their computers for basic things like email, web surfing, etc

My parents are the perfect example for the average user: they book flights on the internet, use ebay & amazon, read their mail, do their pictures in iPhoto & iDVD, but as soon as an application disappears from the dock, my phone starts ringing: we lost blablabla...

I also tried to explain them the concept of 2 button mice, etc, but they just don't get it or forget to use it: it just doesn't come natural to them! All of this was my argument for them to get a mac, rather than another peecee...

After all, what is the problem spending £20 on a multibutton mouse if you spend hundreds on a computer, etc! (I have a few too many if anybody needs one ;-)

It's impressive to me how many people want to make the argument "The Mac demographic is too stupid to use a second button. Apple is a genius of user-experience hegemony!"

Not quite sure how well the ideas of "Think Different" and "Lowest Common Denominator" mix in a brandmaster's cuisinart, but some people are quite certainly militant about it.

In case you refer to me: didn't want to imply that at all. My argument is rather that windooze is far too complicated & that the ease of use of macs is one of the major reason for a lot of regular users to switch. That said, I think a single button mouse makes it even easier for people like my parents.

I personally go nuts using the mac with a one button mouse, but hey, it cost me £10 to get a multi-button mouse!

I use a 2 button mouse on my mac, and to be honest I right-click no more than a few times a day. In my experince, the 2 button mouse does not have "everything to do with functionality and productivity", is not "invaluble". The research on this topic I have heard referenced actually indicates that multi-button mice decrease productivity (while often increasing the perception of productivity). I am not opposed to multi-button mice, however, I think it is important for interface designers to allow access to all functionality with a standard keyboard on one-button mouse. Custom functionality assigned to addition mouse buttons is fine, if a user wants it, but i think it could be harmful to expect software to support more than one mouse button. The mouse is a fundamentally a pointing device, and to move additional functionality away from the keyboard and various software menus does not increase functionality overall.