By Harry McCracken | Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Once again, I’ve been happily wallowing in old documents at Google Patents. This time, I emerged with a bunch of patents for mice and other input devices–none of which had the impact that their creators hoped, and some of which are downright bizarre.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Lotsa the designs assume people want a lot of buttons, a key pad. It’s kind of like the Blackberry hold outs you see today– more physical keys does NOT equal better, dudes!
IMHO, for a mouse, 1 button used to be best. Web browsers were the first app that made me want a second button (I use a Kensington USB; trackwheel; two buttons; optical; wired right now); some 3D work benefits from 3+ buttons– but most people just don’t DO that.