Article By: Cesar Garcia
Well, i’m pretty sure the fine people at Cupertino all use the right click, and they right click to right click, not to option click (well, maybe Jobs. But he’s a genius. He can do whatever he wants), and still they insist on defaulting the system to a no right click stance.
But why?
Because it’s Apple.
And they care.
How did I come to this conclusion? I was forced invited to setup an iMac G5 as an Xmas gift to my aunt. Since I’m the resident Apple genius in the family (and there are no Apple stores in Portugal *hint hint Apple!*, to get a genuine genius from), I took the G5 and did the usual: erase, reinstall, set up.
While setting up my own Macs, I usually go through every common app (Safari, iTunes, etc) and all the menus in System Preferences to adjust the settings. This usually means changing most default options.
“Enable right click” being my personal (un)favorite.
Every new OS, every new Mac, every new initial setup, I go through all those menus and always, upon arriving at the “Mouse” one, I secretly hope for a “Right click enabled” default. That would definitely bring a lot of joy to the whole procedure – did I mention I’m a bit of a geek..? – Well, new operating systems have come, new Macs as well, but no “Right click enabled” by default from Apple. As any other fanboy, I tell myself: “Just change the damn setting and get on with it. Remember, Apple knows best. They have Steve and Jony and the rest of the gang. You are but a mere mortal. A superior mortal because you use a Mac, but a mortal still.” And so I do.
*click* Right click enabled.
But it was when setting up the Mac for auntie, that it hit me! I did, as usual, go through all menus in Sys Pref, and contrary to what I usually do for myself, the settings here were being set in accordance to: “Which setting is the easiest choice, the easiest to explain, and the least prone to (user) errors?”
And every time, the Apple default was the best choice. Why?
Because it’s Apple.
And they care.
Apple doesn’t care for the advanced user, for the super user, or for the genius. These people don’t need Apple to make the best choice for them. They already know what’s the best choice for themselves!
So what is the absolute most important type of user that Apple needs to take care of? Auntie never-seen-a-PC-before-much-less-a-Mac type user. And yes, right click is damn easy to teach. It’s just “hey, you can click like this *left click* AND like this *right click*” boom. Not so hard. But….
It’s easier to just say “you click like this *click*”, isn’t it?
And that’s what Apple’s all about. The most simple, elegant, and easy scenario.
That’s why we all love our Macs and iThings. They’re simple, elegant, and easy.
That’s why it just works.
That’s why right click isn’t enabled by default.
So next time you want to bitch about Apple, and not having a right click (which we DO, windows-people-lost-in-the-internet-who-ended-up-here-still-not-knowing-how), and not having flash on the iPhone, and iPods not having FM radio, and all the other nagging things you always come up with, just trust the good people at Apple. They’re probably taking care of your auntie. Not you.
You’re a super user. Deal with it.
Photo Credit: zlifestreaming
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hello police? i think i just got trolled
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LikeYeay, Portugal!! I'm Portuguese!
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LikeVai maséé dançar, mesmo que seja mal!!
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LikeOne button makes sense for novice users. Also, the Mac doesn't NEED right-click to be able to function, one can access ALL the same commands from the menus.
When setting up my uncle's (then) new PowerBook several years ago, I offered him a choice between a mouse with multiple buttons and a one-button Apple mouse. Having fled Windows in despair, he had NO hesitation: One-Button! It's simpler.
This is a guy who had been a Navy pilot and had been CFO of several large corporations.
My gripe with Apple isn't about one or two button... we've had the choice of multi-button mice built into the System since Mac OS 8 and even earlier with third-party mice and their drivers. I wonder at the fact that Apple keeps SO many great features completely hidden, unless, like we folks here, one is willing to dig around and look for things.
One example: When I see people moving windows around to find things, instead of using Command-Tab and the Hide commands, I could SCREAM. Or using Tabs in Safari. Or multi-touch on the newer MacBooks.
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LikeThis can also be illustrated when teaching a class of kindergarten to 3rd graders to use a computer. Try it when the right button is enabled and you'll be in your own little version of hell.
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LikeI must agree with Jim! I know Cesar Garcia very well =) and in my opinion, with all my respect for him because I considered him a great friend of mine Apple like any other company wants to profit. Money is his motivation and goal! Don't get me wrong, I also am a big Apple fan and I also have a bunch off apple's finest hardware and software like a macbook pro iPod... and many others... I love the simplicity of the brand but like Jim said "You do not have to turn fundamentalist/Maoist cartwheels to justify and defend a silly decision on Apple’s part." To be able to step back and critically analyse the products its fundamental... ok windows sucks... but not every one, this latest version isn't so bad, come on... just bear with me for a while LOL It's true!!! Windows Vista it's bad but the 7 version... well the thing does what is meant to do... knowing that someone will say that it copy Apple already existing software... they are also right and this is another discussion... Apple simplify's things it's true! But it isn't the all mighty solutions for everything but only one more with also skeletons in the closet like the Blueray issue... YES the hi-defenition for Apple is his itunes films in hi resolution and I say that it's his way to avoid the fact that it doesn't want to have a blueray drive and lose the big monopoly! Not one mac or macpro has a blueray drve but Toshiba as all of us know's, it was a Hi-Dvd support and know it already have Blueray drives!
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LikeI must agree with Jim! I know Cesar Garcia very well =) and in my opinion, with all my respect for him because I considered him a great friend of mine Apple like any other company wants to profit. Money is his motivation and goal! Don't get me wrong, I also am a big Apple fan and I also have a bunch off apple's finest hardware and software like a macbook pro iPod... and many others... I love the simplicity of the brand but like Jim said "You do not have to turn fundamentalist/Maoist cartwheels to justify and defend a silly decision on Apple’s part." To be able to step back and critically analyse the products its fundamental... ok windows sucks... but not every one, this latest version isn't so bad, come on... just bear with me for a while LOL It's true!!! Windows Vista it's bad but the 7 version... well the thing does what is meant to do... knowing that someone will say that it copy Apple already existing software... they are also right and this is another discussion... Apple simplify's things it's true! But it isn't the all mighty solutions for everything but only one more with also skeletons in the closet like the Blueray issue... YES the hi-defenition for Apple is his itunes films in hi resolution and I say that it's his way to avoid the fact that it doesn't want to have a blueray drive and lose the big monopoly! Not one mac or macpro has a blueray drve but Toshiba as all of us know's, it was a Hi-Dvd support and know it already have Blueray drives!
Enough said, live long and prosper Apple!
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LikeMac users don't need the "training wheels" of a "right click"... The MacOS is designed for speed, so ruining it with a cumbersome "right click"... is pointless. (pun intended)
Nobody in the Mac world needs the unnecessary complexity of a right click, we want to "click" on the specific option we want and move on.
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LikeActually, right click has been enabled by default on the Mac for a long time. All you need to take advantage of it is a mouse with a right button. It just works, with no configuration needed.
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LikeNo it's not, never has been. Wintards made this change, called it innovation. They all thought Apple would have to come around.
I love the way Apple invented a two button mouse that is still a one button mouse.
Way back when, Apple did focus groups and such to figure this out. Plus, it gets more confusion for the newbie when s/he can be left or right handed. One button is much more parsimonious, and takes precedence over the crutch of the 'right click'.
There are like a million buttons on the keyboard, and still it passes as 'innovation' among the Wintards to have an extra one on the mouse.
We know they aren't working very hard, just surfing around with a cola in hand, this is where the right button excels--for slackers. That being said, yeah, I enable mine, too. ;-)
I like that Apple stuck to their guns on this one!
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LikeI never had to change any setting when I plugged in a two button (cough) microslop mouse, Just worked...
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LikeI guess Mac OS recognizes it's a two button mouse and so it makes no sense in having that functionality off.
With an Apple mouse, you never really had two physical buttons so it makes sense to make the user opt in on that (thus telling the OS he knows what he's doing).
The kboggs' kindergarten's example fits perfectly on this:
If there are two buttons on the device, it's confusing that one doesn't work, hence OSX making it work by default, and provide the user with some feedback. If there's only one button, it would be confusing to a child to have one action happen sometimes, and a different one some other times, when there's no physical cue for it.
Another good example (that Apple handles less well) is with application icons.
If the icon is in the dock, you only have to click it once. But from inside the Applications folder, you need to double click it.
My mother (64) - who btw knows how to use a right click - can't for the life of Jebus, understand this, and 1+ years into the mac, she still double clicks the dock icons...
Just goes to show that what's really really obvious and primary for us (super users, light users, whatever not n00bs), may come as a real challenge for auntie, for momma, for 3rd grade kids, etc.
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LikeCome on. This article is dumb, and it's the kind of nonsense that gets all Apple fans labeled as fanboys, apologists, etc. Right click is infinitely useful, and should be enabled by default. You do not have to turn fundamentalist/Maoist cartwheels to justify and defend a silly decision on Apple's part. I say this as someone who has used only Mac computers, since 1988: Apple's strength is in making things simple for novices AND in making the complex simple for power users. You're not doing Apple any favors by portraying the Mac as deliberately less capable.
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LikeI loooove windows!!!!! It really is SIMPLE and there's a thought behind everything! ....NO WAIT! something didnt sound right there.....AH! I was thinkin about APPLE! my bad ;)
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