Comment by Zelphyr
8 years ago
Kind of an apples to oranges comparison on Carmack's point though (no pun intended). Keyboards were invented 100 years earlier than the mouse. People, especially older adults, instinctively knew how to use them.
8 years ago
Kind of an apples to oranges comparison on Carmack's point though (no pun intended). Keyboards were invented 100 years earlier than the mouse. People, especially older adults, instinctively knew how to use them.
I don’t think it was remotely serious, he probably just wanted to say it to tease him a bit
When the first keyboard type interface was invented for typewriters and such, did people instinctively know how to use them immediately? Besides, at that time the concept of a two button mouse was not new and had been in use with computers for years.
I don't know about when typewriters were new, but up until recently, many people were actively scared to use a computer. I worked with people who would physically shake when they would use a computer because they terrified of breaking something.
The mouse, while designed to help quell those fears, was still a part of the computer and still scary to those people.
The number of buttons probably didn't matter in the whole scheme of things. They would've been afraid of it regardless. But his instinct was already to remove anything from a design that wasn't absolutely necessary. So it fit with his way of thinking to suggest that people wouldn't use a mouse with two buttons. If eliminating one button could make those people less afraid of the computer, then that was the way to go.
All that said; I too thought that mouse sucked. But I was a power user by then and it wasn't designed for me.
> because they terrified of breaking something
Not really. More like they were terrified that the keyboard would shoot out sparks and fire, and throw them across the bridge of the Enterprise.
Also, keyboards have letters