Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!think!ames!oli-stl!bob
From: bob@stl.olivetti.com (Bob Weissman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Serial Mouse
Summary: OPINION ALERT!  Mechanical mice are better!
Keywords: Metal Balls
Message-ID: <1098@stl.olivetti.com>
Date: 14 Nov 88 21:46:25 GMT
References: <1416@ge-dab.GE.COM> <1678@csun.edu> <183@ultb.UUCP> <12586@steinmetz.ge.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: Olivetti Software Technology Laboratory, Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 42

In article <12586@steinmetz.ge.com>, davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) writes:
> The optical vs. mechanical mouse question is interesting. The users of
> optical mice say that mechanical mice tend to need cleaning a lot (all
> of the ones on our Macs seem to). The mechanical people say that they
> don't want to have to use the optical pad.

The Macintosh mouse picks up a lot of dirt because it uses a rubber ball
rather than a metal one.  The Mac mouse's ball reminds me of a rubber
pencil eraser, and seems to act like one, too.  The Microsoft mouse on
my XT at home has a metal ball, just like God and Xerox intended, and I
have never had to clean it.  I use a standard 8.5x11" pad of paper as a
mouse pad; it doubles as a note pad (when the top sheet gets full, I just
tear it off and discard it).
 
> Recantly the mechanical people have started using mouse pads. Now they
> claim that there is no problem with cleaning needed. Not one of them
> complains that they have to run on a pad.

The problem with optical mice is not the existence of the mouse pad; it
is the fact that the mouse must be correctly aligned with the pad in
order to provide the correct tracking.  That is, you cannot skew the
mouse pad and hope your mouse will track correctly.  You have to keep
the pad aligned with the screen aligned with the mouse.  This adds
extra cognitive processing to a process which is supposed to be
transparent.The Sun 3/60 in my office uses the awful Mouse Systems
optical mouse.  This thing has two felt pads on the bottom which pick
up as much dust and lint as any mechanical mouse with a rubber ball.

> My personal opinion is that any device with moving parts will have a
> higher failure rate than a device of the same complexity with no
moving > parts. I use both types of mouse and don't like mice in
general.

I use both types of mouse and like mice in general.  And good old mechanical
mice with metal balls in particular.


-- 
Bob Weissman 	bob@stl.olivetti.com
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