Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!world!decwrl!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!arisia!ebert
From: ebert@arisia.Xerox.COM (Robert Ebert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: The Mouse -- What is its History?
Summary: Xerox, Sun, Apple mice compared.
Message-ID: <13056@arisia.Xerox.COM>
Date: 9 Oct 90 16:10:46 GMT
References: <90274.094731ELE@psuvm.psu.edu> <26801@mimsy.umd.edu> <10592@goofy.Apple.COM> <2385@runxtsa.runx.oz.au> <1114@helens.Stanford.EDU>
Reply-To: ebert@arisia.UUCP (Robert Ebert)
Organization: Xerox Sunnyvale System Software Unit
Lines: 45

Interesting debate.  I've got a Xerox "mouse relative" optical mouse on
my 6085 (Xerox machine) at work, and a Sun "pad relative" optical mouse
on my Sun 4/110.  [Both running Xerox workstation software, I might add...]

The Xerox mouse is one of the three button mutations made for the LISP
machines.  When using it with the two button Xerox OS  (XDE and BWS) the
middle button acts as a chord, that is, clicking the middle is the
equivalent of clicking both the left and right.  I never touch it.

One of the biggest difference, other than the weird Pad-relative Sun mouse,
is the position of the sensors on the mouse.  The Xerox sensors are right
up at the top, almost directly under the buttons, this makes the mouse
point with its head, which makes for easier fine fingertip control.  The
sensors on the Sun mouse are down near the bottom, similar to where they
appear on the Apple mice.  This makes the mouse point with its feet, which
is awkward until you get used to it.

The best technique I've found for the Sun (and Apple) mice is to up the pad
farther back on the desk, NOT right next to the keyboard.  This way you end
up resting your arm on the desk, so your wrist stays straight and you use
whole arm movements to move the mouse.  Grip the mouse with your thumb and
pinky on either side, which leaves one finger fully extended to each button.
I can (and do...) do this for hours on end with no wrist fatigue.

Even so, I much perfer the Xerox optical mouse.  It's about half the size
of the Sun mouse, a bit taller, and a whole lot lighter.  Moving this mouse
is (practically) effortless, and fine control is no problem.  I never have
the problem that I do with the Apple and Sun mice where the act of pushing
a button moves the cursor a pixel.  [That is the single most frustrating
thing about the Mac mouse... clicks sometimes turn into drags... argh.]

For the record, I was exposed to the Mac and Sun mice a couple of years
before I started using the Xerox mouse, so the "first learned" preference
does not exist in this case.  I wish Xerox would market its mice for other
computers... but, well, we're Xerox.

			--Bob (Go GlobalView!)

P.S.  The weirdest mouse I've seen is the DECStation mouse.  Looks like
half a softball with a chord.  It's really comfortable, though, or at
least that was the impression I got in my 10 minutes of playing with it.
Other mice I've tried are the NeXT mouse (which is really horrible, but
that's a software problem I suspect), the Microsoft mouse for PCs, lots
of variations on Apple mice, the Metaphor chordless mouse, and some
archaic tiny-balled Xerox mechanical mice.  The Xerox optical is the best.