[OT] "The Condescending UI" (was: Do we need Win95/98/Me support?)

[Sean Kelly]

I think if you design an interface where the input device has only one button as opposed to multiple buttons, etc, one could argue that the result will be easier to learn. I know I always had trouble explaining the use of the right mouse button in Windows to my parents. 

On Jan 26, 2012, at 5:55 PM, "Nick Sabalausky" <a at a.a> wrote:

> "Stewart Gordon" <smjg_1998 at yahoo.com> wrote in message 
> news:jfsvfh$14ek$1 at digitalmars.com...
>> On 27/01/2012 01:36, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>> <snip>
>>> Heh, yea. That's something thing I always found funny: Apple always used 
>>> to
>>> prepackage one-button mice with their right-click-capable OSX machines
>>> because "one-button mice are simpler and easier". But I never understood 
>>> how
>>> "control-click" qualified as simpler or easier than "right-click".
>> <snip>
>> 
>> A one-button mouse _is_ simpler than a mouse with three buttons and a 
>> scroll wheel.
>> 
>> OTOH, _using_ a one-button mouse is neither simpler nor easier....
>> 
> 
> Well, yea, but Apple's stated excuse for the one-button wasn't because they 
> *are* simpler, but because they're allegedly "simpler *to use*".  I guess I 
> mistakenly left off the "to use" part up there. Whenever Apple says 
> "simpler", they generally mean "simpler to use", even if it's flat-out 
> false.
> 
>> (The IT manager of my uni department back in the day told me (probably 
>> speculatively) that the reason for fewer buttons is "less to go wrong".)
>> 
>> Stewart. 
> 
>