Re: Random thought...

[Frederick I Gleef <gleef capital net>]

On Wed, 12 Aug 1998, Dan "Effugas" Kaminsky wrote:
> Stephen Pfab wrote: 
> >I would think the numbers a more like 80% 3 buttons.
> 
> I'll be a teensy bit like Bowie for a second and just say that's really
> really silly...Linux is mostly x86, and our initial users will be Linuxers.
> Even then, dedicated "true unix" stations aren't that many in number.
> 
> Only VERY recently have we seen the Microsoft Intellimouse give three
> buttons to users.  Most people have two button mice--I don't really think I
> dealt with more than 2 people on campus who had intellimice...

While I agree the 80% estimate is pretty high, I don't understand why you
assume the Microsoft Intellimouse is the first three button mouse for the
PC world.  The very first mouse I ever owned was a three button Mouse
Systems optical mouse, back when Microsoft first got into the mouse
busienss, when Windows was still in version 1.  Mouse Systems still sells
primarily three (or more) button PC mice.  Logitech also has always sold
primarily three button mice.  Long before I ever considered Linux, I was
making sure that all the mice I bought had three buttons.

>From personal experience, I'd say the number is probably around 30%, with
heigher numbers among graphics professionals, and lower numbers with
people who bought their first computer between 6 months and two years ago.


> >I like the 8 way scrolling idea a lot (see old thread).
> >The idea put scrolling on middle button drag.
> >Which means that:
> >  a) scrolling is possible with the scroll bars or the middle button
> >  b) paste (std for X) is on middle button click
> >
> >So we do not take anything away from 2 button people just add
> >nice features for 3 button owners.
> 
> This is different than right clicking, which *screws* the mac contingent,
> but that's OK because right clicking simply rules.
> 
> I like this "optional" thing.

I like the drag-scroll function too.  However, I think that there will be
application developers who want their own function in the middle.  It
should be a G3 requirement, not more important than that.

-Gleef