The Joy of Mighty Mouse

My tolerance for things (anything) that don’t work the way I expect them to is about as low as you could possibly imagine. Just ask my work colleagues about how painful it is to work with me when I have to use Eclipse. (And before the flame wars start, it’s not a bad product it just doesn’t work the same way I do. In fact after my last blog entry, Jon described Eclipse as well and truly “Opinionated Software”. I couldn’t agree more.)

So anyway, it came to pass that on Friday 23rd of December, 2005 my laptop died. Yes, my beloved PowerBook just wouldn’t start up. (Of course those same colleagues that deride me for my whining about Eclipse also took great pride in cajoling me over my woosey “laptop”.) Unfortunately it had apparently suffered one too many falls – about half-a-dozen to be precise – as I made my way around the globe earlier in the year.

Distressed as I was I naturally raced off to the Mac store to hand over the carcass and purchase a new, emergency, computer. Knowing full well that the MacIntel laptops were just around the corner – and being prepared to wait for one– I decided to buy an iMac instead. (Yes, yes. It was a G5 which as of three, count ’em, three days ago has become obsolete.)

As I was wandering around the store waiting for my machine to have 2GB RAM installed, my brother – oh yes, he was with me for moral support :) – started playing with a Mighty Mouse; just like the one included with my new iMac and the same ones that nobody (including me) liked. (I had twice attempted to use one and twice failed. James even offered me his for nix as he disliked it so much!) “Hey! This is pretty cool!” my brother yells across the shop floor. “You have to be kidding me!? Those things suck ass! I just can’t seem to get the right-click thing to work!” I replied.

It was true. I had just never been able to get the right-click to work. It was a shame really because I really like the tactile sense of the track-ball thingy; it’s almost erotic..ok, forget I said that. Anyway, after explaining my issues and demonstrating my complete inability to operate the Mighty Mouse my brother emphatically exclaims “You’re a retard! How can you find it so difficult to use? The only explanation is you’re a retard!” Nice. So after some investigation in the shop and after providing much entertainment to the staff as a matter of consequence, he (my brother) deduces the problem: “You’re resting your hand on it and gripping” hey says. “Of course I am. How else does one use a mouse?” I enquired. “My arm and hand will get tired if I don’t!” I refused to believe that this mouse was any good at all. What a piece of crap. I wouldn’t be budged until he said something that really hit a chord: “Think about how pianists hold their hands. They don’t rest there entire hand on the keys, just their finger tips and they don’t get tired arms.” And what do you know? It worked.

The moment I stopped gripping the mouse and instead lightly holding it with my fingertips, the moment I was able to right-click just fine. What’s even more impressive is that at the end of a day in front of the computer, my hand no longer feels fatigued from using the mouse all day. Who would have thought? I wonder if the mouse was design in this way purposefully or whether it was sheer luck? Whatever the reason, I now love my Mighty Mouse and what’s more, I actually miss it!