Mac OS X and Mouse Acceleration
In a previous blog post, I discussed Mac OS X and its horrible mouse acceleration and the fact that there is no easy way to turn it off. Since then, that post has been either the most popular page on my blog, or the second most popular. I won't mention which post is currently the most popular for fear of Google directing people to this post for that subject.
Since writing my original post about the mouse problem, I have written to Apple several times through their OS X Product Feedback link. Some of my friends have written to them, as well. These are always calm discussions about why we want to turn off mouse acceleration, and why we don't think it's a huge change to the OS to put in a checkbox to enable or disable it.
If you don't know, mouse acceleration means that the distance the pointer on the screen moves is related to both how far and how fast you move the mouse. For example, the pointer might move one inch on the screen for one inch of mouse movement if it takes you one second to move it, but it could then move four inches if it takes you half a second to move the mouse one inch.
Recently, I decided to try another tactic: the online petition. Here is the link to it:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MacMAcc/petition.html
You can find some more discussion about the topic at the JREF Forum. This forum has a very high signal to noise ratio, and I recommend it as a place to discuss almost anything you might be interested in.
So, I humbly ask you to sign the petition if you think Apple should allow its users to choose easily whether or not they want mouse acceleration. Also, pass on the address to anyone else you know who might think this is a good idea.
Since writing my original post about the mouse problem, I have written to Apple several times through their OS X Product Feedback link. Some of my friends have written to them, as well. These are always calm discussions about why we want to turn off mouse acceleration, and why we don't think it's a huge change to the OS to put in a checkbox to enable or disable it.
If you don't know, mouse acceleration means that the distance the pointer on the screen moves is related to both how far and how fast you move the mouse. For example, the pointer might move one inch on the screen for one inch of mouse movement if it takes you one second to move it, but it could then move four inches if it takes you half a second to move the mouse one inch.
Recently, I decided to try another tactic: the online petition. Here is the link to it:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MacMAcc/petition.html
You can find some more discussion about the topic at the JREF Forum. This forum has a very high signal to noise ratio, and I recommend it as a place to discuss almost anything you might be interested in.
So, I humbly ask you to sign the petition if you think Apple should allow its users to choose easily whether or not they want mouse acceleration. Also, pass on the address to anyone else you know who might think this is a good idea.
posted by Almo at 7:50 PM
2 Comments:
Just signed it. This is probably one of the top 15 most crippling mis-implementations in OS X. I can't imagine how much this would improve the experience and usability.
Got my Mac today, switching from Linux. I was stunned by the lack of usability in the windowing system. I have been searching the web for hours to get rid of mouse acceleration, with no luck. Also, simple things like pressing alt + left mouse button (or similar) anywhere in a window to move it is missing.
One really start to wonder if they run Mac OS X at Apple?
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