Apple barely squeaks by
There’s something that Microsoft does a whole lot better than Apple. Alex Kidman investigates what inside . . .
I write a Mac Blog, therefore I’m a Mac fanatic, right?
Wrong. I just like computers – call ‘em PCs, Macs, or whatever label you like. Apple makes some nice stuff, it’s true, and I do use a Mac for my daily work – because, unlike my Vista box, it actually works – but the company isn’t above criticism, at least from me. It is fair to say that a lot of Mac writing online does tend to fall into the fawning category, often to the detriment of critical assessment of Apple and its products. With that in mind, an area where Apple has, in recent years, dropped the ball pretty badly compared to their competition struck me recently. It’s something that Microsoft doesn’t just do as well as Apple at – it arguably wipes the floor with them. And I’m not talking about Steve Ballmer running around naked in big piles of money (although I’m sure that happens), or monopolistic browser practices. I am, however, talking about an area where Apple didn’t exactly innovate, but undeniably was instrumental in bringing computing to the masses, and making it easy to boot: The humble mouse.
Back when MS users were still struggling with DOS command lines, Apple’s mouse-driven Macintosh was a revelation to many.
These days, however, the mice that Apple pumps out can be described as adequate at best, and often very poor. I also nearly forgot “expensive” there, too. The original “hockey puck” iMac mouse is a good example in past history of a terrible Apple mouse , but even the current “Mighty Mouse” is an object lesson in good visual design but terrible implementation when seen against the current crop of (largely) Microsoft mice.
Sure, the Mighty Mouse looks quite pretty against a Mac, but it only barely squeaks by as actually useful; you can’t dual-press left and right mouse buttons, the scroll “nipple” isn’t anywhere near as useful as a full wheel (and much harder to clean, to boot), and it’s not shaped for good ergonomics. Meanwhile, in the Microsoft camp, while they struggle to make and release a good operating system in a post-XP world, their mice continue to be comfortable, functional and rugged. Just before the Mac fans of the world descend on me in their fury and declare me to be running naked alongside Steve, grabbing piles of money from him, I’ll point out that I’m actually using a Logitech mouse as my primary input these days, but that’s just because one’s handy. The same point still stands -- there’s a difference between attractive design and functionality. Functional devices work. Attractive ones – well, they’re just statues.
Other Blog Entries written by Alex Kidman:
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Comments: 1
|
nix
Mar 27, 2008 7:49 AM
|
I agree, the Mighty Mouse is barely more usable than a small plastic brick. The first thing I do when I get a new Mac is plug in a Logitech mouse.
The new Apple keyboards, on the other hand, are surprisingly nice... good combination of aesthetics and engineering.
|