I would love to talk with someone at Apple that had a hand in designing the Mighty Mouse. In true “Reservoir Dogs” fashion, I would sit this design in a chat and have a nice little chat with them.
Just like Mr. Blonde, I would stay calm and ask them why they would design a mouse that has a 360-degree scroll ball that cannot be removed for cleaning purposes. Then, no matter what answer he/she would give, I would go Van Gough on their ass.
I have been using a wired Mighty Mouse for almost a year now. In truth, it is the only mouse I have every used when I bought my Mac last year. I fully subscribed to the Apple culture and bought my Mac, an Apple aluminum keyboard, and a Mighty Mouse. The keyboard is fantastic, but the mouse is nothing but a pain in the ass.
For example, the buttons need to have a little tactile feedback on them. Having a smooth mouse with no features looks great as a design, but no so much for someone who has used a 2-button mouse everyday for the past of 17 years. If you’re just a little off, you end up ‘hitting’ the wrong button. That’s really annoying when you go to lick a hyperlink and instead you bring up the context menu.
And as for the previously mentioned roller ball – I love and hate that little guy. When it works, it’s like peanut butter & jelly; it doesn’t get any better. However, when you do go scroll down and not matter how hard or fast you roll your finger downward, nothing happens. That’s when my resolve goes into Neanderthal mode, and I slam the entire mouse down on my desktop a few times like I’m trying to open a coconut. After usually a dozen or so good hits, the roller ball start to function again.
Don’t get me wrong, this design is a fast improvement over their single buttoned version, and don’t even get me started about the original iMac mice, a.k.a Soap On A Rope. I just wish Apple would make a product that you could actually service. At $50.00 a pop, these mice aren’t cheap. I could really look past it’s smooth button less surface if I could just pop out the roller and clean it every once and a while.
