Apple Macintosh Plus mouse

The Mac mouse has been the almost iconic sidekick to the Mac itself since day one. From the early days until now they have at least appeared to be one button only. Only recently I had a client who couldn’t get away from the mac dashboard whenever he clicked his mouse. It took a few second on the phone to twig that this user had just not fathomed how many buttons the Mac Mighty Mouse had under its skin. It has caused me embarrassment more than once as I grapple with an oddly configured ‘mighty’ mouse, making the screen do anything but what I expect. You can’t just change a user’s settings to suit yourself. So I always bring a nice simple wired mac mouse with me, so I know it won’t make me look silly when I click something.

The new Magic Mouse

But the new Magic Mouse promises to be something else altogether different. Utilising the same finger swiping multi-touch technology as the iPhone and the new MacBooks it promises to be ultimately responsive and configurable.

Multitouch mouse gestures

Somewhat like a trackball, but so much more intuitive. I want one. But I won’t be taking it with me as I make house calls as it is – like all wireless mice – going to be a problem when troubleshooting start-up issues.

And there are only a few other words of caution:

• It won’t work with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger or below. Even Leopard needs to be 10.5.8
• No Windows drivers yet, just right and left click
• No Exposé buttons on the side (a feature really, I think), no middle button

It costs £55 from the Apple Store.