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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!eagle!mhuxl!ihnp4!fortune!rpw3
From: rpw3@fortune.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.works
Subject: Re: mickey-mouse mice - (nf)
Message-ID: <2724@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 9-Mar-84 07:05:47 EST
Article-I.D.: fortune.2724
Posted: Fri Mar  9 07:05:47 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Mar-84 10:34:16 EST
Sender: notes@fortune.UUCP
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
Lines: 42

#R:sri-arpa:-1725400:fortune:12600005:000:1958
fortune!rpw3    Mar  9 02:59:00 1984

I tried the mouse on the Apple Macintosh in an office supply store
the other day, and was generally favorably impressed with the feel
of the mouse, EXCEPT...

<<FLAME ON>>
...the damn ball is under the BACK of the mouse, not under the button!

Now look, folks, the whole point of the mouse is that it is a kinesthetic
extension of your body, like a pencil or a steering wheel or a screwdriver.
You're supposed to be able to use it naturally without thinking about it.
In the case of the mouse, since you use it to point with, that means that
you want the position of the cursor on the screen to track with where you
"fingers" are pointing, which happens to be somewhere near the tips of your
actual fingers, which in turn are comfortably (one hopes) draped over the
button(s).                    [Aside: I prefer multi-button mice, myself]

If the ball is at the other end of the mouse, that means a good bit
of misalignment whenever you make large motions, due to your arm pivoting
around your elbow. When trying to use MacPaint to draw with, it's "off"
just enough to be annoying. (I held the mouse "upside down", to check that
I was really feeling what I thought I was. Yup! It's easier to use that way,
except for the cord in the way and the button being weird to press :-)

It's been a couple of years, but I don't recall the mouse on the Xerox Alto II
having that problem.

Sure, the inside of the mouse is probably a little crowded under the button,
but the button actuating arm could have been cantilevered back to a switch
in the rear, if they really needed the room. It's a shame for them to have
put that much work into the "human factors" and then get bitten by this kind
of inattention to detail!
<<FLAME OFF>>

Rob Warnock                     "Otherwise, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

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