Post: New mouse. Cool mouse. Stupid name
Apple have released a multi-button mouse. They have called it…Mighty Mouse.
Yeah, just let that sink in for a few minutes. The company who brought us Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Exposé, Bonjour (né Rendezvous) and, of course, the iPod, now bring us…Mighty Mouse.
Getting past the enormity of the name’s crapness, the mouse really looks rather promising as, once again, Apple seem to have managed to add features without sacrificing the sleek design or the “oooh, so shiny” factor. The two-dimensional scroll ball sounds like a nice improvement on the scroll wheels of other mice (certainly a damn sight better than the “Tilt Wheel” present on some Microsoft mice, which I can personally attest is a right pig to use). The touch-sensitive buttons allow for a right mouse button without changing the now-characteristic “single shell” design of Apple mice, plus the squeezable sides acting as another button sound very interesting.
Of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating so I’ll wait for the reviews to come along before I make my mind up about whether this mouse is good or bad: either way, I’m not planning on buying one any time soon. All I can say for the moment is that I’m impressed with the design and it certainly comes across as very Apple-y.
Still, Mighty Mouse?!
I actually don’t have a huge problem with the tilt mice. Generally they seem a pretty good idea. I’d wait and see what the precision is like using Apple’s funny ball thing before kicking Microsoft so readily. Logitech’s version of tilt wheel on the MX1000 is rather good, too (quite possibly better than the MS ones).
The mouse does look extremely desirable and the price point puts it in at about the same as a Logitech MX500 (wired, multi-button) so they may have a winner. A bluetooth version would be nice, mind.
Hang on, I’ve sussed it out! By naming new products after cartoon characters from my youth, they’re paving the way for Mac OSX 10.6 – ‘Thundercat’.
How about calling it “mus”? :p