Tom Nelson of about.com writes that some users who purchased Apple’s recently released Magic Mouse (separately from a Mac) are experiencing problems getting their computer’s to recognize the multitouch gestures that happen to be the device’s main selling point.
It appears that the Wireless Mouse software is being applied, but after the Mac is rebooted, the system fails to detect the Magic Mouse. The preference pane can’t provide gesture support to a mouse it can’t see, so the Magic Mouse ends up working like a two-button mouse; it doesn’t even support scrolling.
The problem is believed to be a conflict with other preferences, such as a third-party keyboard or USB preferences used by other devices. In my case, the Magic Mouse works fine on a fresh install of Snow Leopard (updated to 10.6.1, plus the Wireless Mouse software), but fails to work on the same Mac Pro when I boot from my usual startup drive, which contains preference panes for many third-party products and applications. Trying to figure out which piece of software is causing the conflict has been an exercise in frustration. Even after I removed every third-party preference pane, the Magic Mouse continued to behave as a magic-less mouse.
A support thread on the issue can be found on Apple’s discussion boards over here.
And while we’re on the topic, does anyone else think that whatever added utility the new multitouch gestures offer is greatly overshadowed by the devices inability to launch either Expose or the dashboard?
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:34 am
I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple introduce new gestures to the mouse over time – they quite often introduce new features after people have had a chance to get used to existing ones to avoid confusing them and to make the learning curve less steep…
3 fingered swipe up/down for Expose/dashboard as per the Macbook trackpads?