Date: 2008-11-02 11:52:02 Created: null
Yes, it's true. My old Intellimouse right next to my shiny iMac.
This has been building up for a while. It didn't take all that long before I had my first problem with my "mighty". The scroll ball, to be specific. It's great to be able to scroll in all directions, as long as it works. But then one day some dust will get in there, and your scrolling will come to a grinding halt. Perhaps it won't work at all, perhaps it will work in one direction. In any case, it's broken and needs to be fixed. Cleaning is in order.
The Apple-approved way to do it is to hold the mouse upside down and frantically rub the ball with a damp cloth. But what if that isn't enough? Don't fret! Actually ...
... well, actually you're kind of screwed then. Because the mighty is glued shut and while not impossible to disassemble, clean and reassemble it's a process involving several small, loose pieces, breakable plastic and other fiddly moments.
I've had a mighty at home for a bit more than a year now and have run into scrolling ball problems several times. Usually they eventually resolve, after much feverish rubbing. But at work the scroll ball has been out of order for a number of days now, seemingly ignoring my attempts to bring it to life again.
Yesterday, the matter suddenly and unexpectedly reached a boiling point. Why am I putting up with this mouse? It has four theoretical buttons, but you can only use one at a time. You can't right-click unless you lift your left finger enough. And the freaking scroll ball gets dirty but can't be easily cleaned! I happily went to optical mice years ago to get away from that very problem, yet I find myself here with a worse version? And the buttons are harder to use?
I stood up, dug out a cheap optical wheel mouse we've kept in a laptop bag, disconnected the "mighty" and went on with my job a somewhat happier person. And now I've just done the same thing at home, except the replacement is an even nicer mouse.
I don't think I will be using a mighty again until they replace that ball with something else. Old Intelli looks decent enough next to the computer.
Come to think about it, it should look even better next to the new metal iMacs ...
A ninja-secured rodent garage is a must in any modern home.