wow... that mouse is totally lame!

hah, i'm not sure how responsive that is when it comes down to gaming or grafx apps, but it sure as hell is ugly. And i'm sure it comes in the usual size: uncomfortably small.

do they do any user testing on this thing? maybe the description is just missing something, but it seems like your wrist would get sore after just 30 mins of use with this thing.

or maybe they are preparing us for an upcoming war in which we will all need giganto arthritic wrist bones...

i went to the apple store yesterday to try it out, but they had already sold out, even their demo ones... I'm dubious myself, but curious at the same time. I like the programmable aspects. probably not a mouse fit for unreal, although somehow I doubt that was in their product spec.

I tried it out at the Apple booth at Siggraph yesterday, and I have to disagree with you all. Whatever technology they're using, the thing works beautifully. Left & right clicks register consistently, and the little trackball in the middle gives just enough tactile feedback. Aesthetics is a matter of personal taste, but at least it doesn't look like a running shoe.

I have to agree with Perry. It doesn't look like a Nike cross-trainer, or a rocketship, and thank god fer that. As for the size, I'm mobile, so the smaller the better (Bluetooth woulda been nice but eh). I use a cheap MacAlly 3 button now which has similar shape and size (always had this size) and it is fine. And I spend 12-14 hours a day sucked into my computer...

As for the right clicksensor, apparently reports coming in say it seems to be calibrated so that you don;t need to totally lift the left finger off, but too much pressure and it registers as a left click.

In any case, there is no such thing as the perfect product that appeals to and fits everyone. Not even Apple can pull that off. ;)

I'm not sure what mouse the cross-trainer comments are directed at, but come on guys... don't be fashion victims! Have you looked at your hands lately? They are not symmetrical! So why should your mouse be?

A few other one-handed bilaterally symmetrical tools that don't have to be:

pens, pencils, paintbrushes, etc
screwdrivers, pliers, etc
forks, knives, spoons
whisk brooms, spades, etc
hairbrushes, toothbrushes

The point is that while bilateral symmetry may not be necessary for a whole class of tools, it doesn't follow that those tools would be better if they were asymmetrical. There might be arguments for making non-symmetrical mice, but the shape of your hand isn't necessarily one of them.

Really, who are the fashion victims here? The ones who posted random conjectures before they actually tried the device in question, or the ones who waited until after?

Answer: probably all of us (even you, Aaron).

I wish I had thought to check out the Apple booth. I don't have a problem with the aesthetics in and of themselves, but the reason for my skepticism of the ergonomics (prior to even using it) is that every Apple mouse I've ever used has had very poor ergonomics. The circular ones are downright sadistic, and the clear ones aren't much better. While some symmetrical mice are ok, the whole concept of placing design aesthetics ahead of health is just backwards thinking and hazardous; in particular for the design and art professionals who predominantly use Macs. I have carpal tunnel, and watching Apple put out these products confuses the hell out of me (as well has hurting me when labs choose to use them!). Apple likes to talk about their user centric design, and I give them credit for their OS, G5's and PowerBooks, but their track record doesn't make me optimistic about this product.

we post about stuff we haven't tried all the time here, in hopes that people that HAVE tried it out will respond. random conjectures? welcome to the blog.

many of the instruments you listed, perry, have been redesigned to fit our hands more comfortably. but do they actually have a postive effect? if i use my mouse 10 hours everyday, will my wrist really be helped through ergonomics, or am i so doomed from over using it that it's really a moot point?

last summer we had the presidential election, this summer we have the mighty mouse battle!

I'm curious to know if anyone knows of any studies that have been done regarding ergonomics. I'm sure there have been lots, and I really want to know if anyone has tested the design of mouse vs. the simple taking of stretch breaks every 30 minutes or so in regard to carpal tunnel problems.

Speaking from my own experience using apple mice (although I use a themouse currently) I haven't had much of a problem, which I attribute being conditioned to take quick breaks to stretch my wrists out. The old sun microsystems machines we used to have when I was taking undergrad cs courses had a simple app running that locked out the machine every so often and displayed a little wrist stretching animation. at first it was kind of annoying, but now I find it useful to pull back for a couple minutes and stretch.

I'd like to see the same results. From my experience the thing that works the most is of course ceasing performing repetitive tasks. Breaks help, and I've found massage of the forearm muscles (the ones on the outside that you can see twitch when you move your fingers) helps relieve the tension on the tendons. Keeping the wrist straight and slightly bent down, and moving with the arm rather than just the wrist helps. The next thing, where I think mice apply, is the rest state of the hand. Rest states, from what I've been told by a person who studied workplace ergonomics, were determined by submerging oneself upright in water and relaxing to let the body assume a natural posture. If you do this (or just relax your hand) you'll notice it slightly closes in. I've found that ergonomic mice that get your hand closest to this state indeed help relieve symptoms. If you flatten out your hand, it puts pulls on the tendons, which hurt when you have carpal tunnel. So more rounded mice that fill and support your palm help it stay curved. It looks like this has been improved on with the Mighty Mouse (the clear ones were basically flat).

This mouse could be ok. My comments in the initial post were a bit premature in their negativity, but I remain skeptical.

Here's one review:

http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/article/apple_mighty_mouse_review_08031207/

"The problem is that if you want to right-click, you actually need to lift your pointer finger off of the left-click area, otherwise the right-click will register as a left-click. While it sounds like a small issue, it can get quite annoying. I am sure that after a week or so of re-training, I will be a pro at it."

The reviewer's comment may be true, Brad - I didn't play with it long enough to notice. I have noticed that when I click one of the buttons on a two-button mouse, I seem to have a natural tendency to lift my finger up off the other button slightly, so maybe that's why I didn't have a problem; I don't know about anyone else.

Kellee: OK, "random conjectures" was a bit harsh, and you make some good points. I wasn't trying to suggest that bilateral symmetry is better, only that it might not make a hell of a lot of difference one way or the other.

Of course it's true that we use the rodent more than most other tools, but the problems it creates (including cts) probably can't be solved by mere redesign - we need entirely new devices that don't force us to make the same motions over and over and over and...

Anyway, I love this verbosely wacky thread. Makes it feel like we all just got back from our summer vacation.

;)

To add to this controversy and speaking of whacky, did you see the RotoGraf at Siggraph?

http://gamingmouse.com/

Yeah, I saw it and played with it for awhile. Totally bizarre. It makes Apple's mouse look and feel positively ergonomic by comparison. You can program it to do anything (blink the LEDs, do errands, call your mom), all using a programming language that resembles mainframe-era FORTRAN.

"The RTR-720 contains more than 5 times the processing power of the original IBM PC"

Smart is the new dumb.

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