APPLE'S MIGHTY MOUSE HAS GOOD AND BAD POINTS

Apple Computer, renown for its innovative products has finally introduced its first-ever two button mouse. I've always wondered why Apple has never come out with a two-button rodent and now that they have, I'm still wondering about it. Granted there is some innovation with this mouse but I somehow feel that Apple didn't do enough here. I figured they were holding out because when they finally did release a two button model, it would be something amazing. But in this case, I don't think the innovations outweigh the long wait.

Mighty Mouse's two buttons are virtual. They don't physically exist. The mouse's white, glossy shell is seamless where the buttons should be.
Instead, you just press on the left or right portion of the shell and the mouse respond accordingly. Now while that may seem cool at the outset, I prefer both the audible and tactile feedback of pressing a real mouse button. I found myself having to recheck whether the button was really pressed on Mighty Mouse.

The tiny scroll ball in the center lets you move in a 360 degree of freedom corresponding to how you roll the little ball. Pressing down on the ball acts like a button. That's nice but again I found myself missing the good old scroll wheel. I never was a huge fan of the little red IBM TrackPoint nib and this kind of reminds me of that technology. I know it's different but it still reminds me of it. I think it's the small amount of surface area that's common to both of them that's triggering the comparison. Plus there's still a minimal amount of tactile and audible feedback, certainly far less than you get with the good old fashioned scroll wheel.

Then there's the side buttons that you can squeeze. I hate to be redundant but once again, the lack of an audible click and tactile feedback makes me wonder just how hard I need to squeeze. I prefer regular buttons on the side of my mouse.

And finally, there's the tail. It has one. For me, a mouse isn't a mouse if it has a cord these days. With today's optical mice, battery life is really a non-issue having to change them once every 6 months or even longer.
To me, the freedom of the cordless mouse far outweighs any ordeal I may suffer changing the batteries twice a year.

On the good side, Apple's Mighty Mouse is optical, look great with its minimal design and it fully supports the latest innovations found in OS X Tiger. The Preferences panel lets you configure the Mighty Mouse to directly control Dashboard, Application Switcher, Expose and SpotLight. You can also control the sensitivity of the vertical and horizontal scrolling.

It's my hope that Apple will do what it did with it's last mouse. They'll come out with a cordless Bluetooth version that supports the built-in Bluetooth found in most of today's Macs. That won't fix all of the problems but it will be a good beginning. As for me, I plan to continue using the cordless, optical mouse from Logitech. It's fully compatible with OS X and Logitech continues to upgrade its System Preference pane.

But like most anything out there, the only way you'll know if the Mighty Mouse is going to be your superhero is to give one a try. Go to your friendly neighborhood Apple Store and put your hands on one. Given its good looks and Tiger-friendly nature, you just might want to take it home. $49.


www.apple.com