Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!apple.com!casseres
From: casseres@apple.com (David Casseres)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: The Mouse -- What is its Histor
Message-ID: <10654@goofy.Apple.COM>
Date: 10 Oct 90 17:24:06 GMT
Sender: usenet@Apple.COM
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.
Lines: 18
References:<2385@runxtsa.runx.oz.au> <70500062@m.cs.uiuc.edu>

In article <70500062@m.cs.uiuc.edu> gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
> I thought the reason Xerox went to a two button mouse, was that
> "chording" (depressing two buttons at once) was a decent substitute
> for a 3rd button (assuming double-chording was not needed).  It may be
> that Engelbrecht did not consider this trick, hence, the Xerox mouse
> is still a faithful incarnation of his ideas.

That may have been Xerox's rationale, but I would think that the 
ergonomics would be rather poor.

It's worth noting that Engelbart's mouse is an integrated part of a 
complete user-interface system that does not resemble the interface 
systems developed by Xerox, Apple, or anyone else.  Engelbart's system 
does not use the mouse for selecting commands on menus, and even when it 
is used to select text it works very differently from other systems.

David Casseres
     Exclaimer:  Hey!