[schiffern]

I agree completely, but there's something very important that Apple has to to – not bundle a stylus. That's right: they should build Wacom technology into the tablet without including a pen or a place to hold it.

Why? For the same reason that Macs still come defaulted to "one button" mode – to restrain software developers. You see, application developers for Mac can count on a significant percent of their user base being completely without an alternate click, so they are forced to expose functionality as buttons instead of stuffing it all in the context menu.

If Apple bundled a stylus with the iPad tomorrow, thousands of developers would add support for it for "gee whiz" reasons. If the user has to purchase one separately, it won't be used gratuitously. Instead, only the professional apps (which actually benefit from a stylus) would use them.

[flogic]

I feel the one button thing is stupid, but I agree on the stylus.

[icefox]

After seeing study after study found that most people never right click it is hard to find one button stupid. I recall one KDE usability study I sat in on where some actions were only accessible via the right click menu. The user (who was a kde developer!) couldn't figure out how to complete all of the tasks because the actions were hidden and he happen to not right click on the "right spot" to see them. For the maintainer of the application it was an eye opening experience.

[schiffern]

I completely disagree, but not for the reasons you might expect. Most people attribute Apple's decision to stubbornness, laziness, arrogance, vanity, or "just being different." It's not any of those, but Apple is so tight-lipped about their decision making that no one articulates why they make the choices they do. Their "one button" strategy is brilliant, and here's why:

As I said, the real reason Apple needs one button is to prevent interface designers from getting lazy. Apple (and their third-party developers) know that most people never change the defaults.

However, they don't really want to ship single-button hardware. Here's what most people don't realize: Apple knows it's a less expressive device. Back when they shipped real one button mice, their advanced users were forced to BYOHID. The hardware that Apple shipped was wasted. That sucks.

To resolve this dilemma Apple devised the Mighty Mouse (later the Magic Mouse). Since the "right-click" was in software they could keep the one-button default but have the hardware magically transform into a multi-button mouse for advanced users. Surely many will BYOHID anyway (this happens with PCs too), but two buttons satisfy many more users.

It's a neat solution to a technical and social problem.

[mikeash]

I agree with your point in general, but must nitpickishly correct your comment on Macs and right click. Every Apple trackpad and mouse sold today supports right click out of the box, and has done for years. Apple hasn't sold a one-click input device in a long time.

[fourspace]

Correction, they support right-click if you enable it. One-click is the default, and most users never change it.

[RandallBrown]

I don't think that's true. I don't remember enabling it on any mac I've bought, but I remember having to enable tap to click.

[schiffern]

That's right. When you first plug in an Apple Mouse or Magic Mouse it is in one-button mode. However, any multi-button mouse will have all the buttons enabled. This is probably why some people think that multi-button mode is the default.

So let me clarify – all apple hardware comes by default with the secondary click disabled.

[mikeash]

I have never seen this. Are you sure it's off by default?

[fourspace]

It was the case when I purchased my magic mouse last year, and when my wife bought one a few days ago. Prior to that she'd never plugged in a mouse to her MacBook Pro.

[mikeash]

Huh, maybe the external devices are different. Built-in trackpads come configured to use two-fingered clicking as right click by default, as far as I've seen.

[kenferry]

I think you're off on that, Mike. I just tried making a new user, and two finger tap for right click was not enabled on my MacBook Air. I do have two finger tap for right click configured for my usual user.