I decided to dismantle my Mighty Mouse today, to see if I could clean the scroll ball (it wasn’t scrolling downwards anymore, no matter how many times I cleaned it with a cloth.) I discovered that 1 of the 4 tracking axles had become caked with dirt. No amount of rubbing the scroll ball would have dislodged this (it was wrapped around the axle). I am convinced that Mighty Mouse was one of those projects that was developed and shipped while Jobs was away on medical leave (or when he was distracted by other things). In fact, when Jobs returned to Apple, I’m pretty sure he had a “special project” for the Mighty Mouse team, and that it probably involved them all following him to the carpark, and not on any future Apple hardware. When it worked, it worked well (scrolling 360 degrees in 2005? Hello!). If it had incorporated an easy way to get at the trackball to clean it, it would have even been forgivable. But the fact that you have to crack through a glued-on frame and dismantle the entire thing to solve what is an intrinsic, mechanical design failure, ranks it at the very bottom of the list of inspired Apple products. Hello Magic Mouse, and no moving parts. (via flickr)
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I decided to dismantle my Mighty Mouse today, to see if I could clean the scroll ball (it wasn’t scrolling downwards anymore, no matter how many times I cleaned it with a cloth.)

I discovered that 1 of the 4 tracking axles had become caked with dirt. No amount of rubbing the scroll ball would have dislodged this (it was wrapped around the axle).

I am convinced that Mighty Mouse was one of those projects that was developed and shipped while Jobs was away on medical leave (or when he was distracted by other things).

In fact, when Jobs returned to Apple, I’m pretty sure he had a “special project” for the Mighty Mouse team, and that it probably involved them all following him to the carpark, and not on any future Apple hardware.

When it worked, it worked well (scrolling 360 degrees in 2005? Hello!). If it had incorporated an easy way to get at the trackball to clean it, it would have even been forgivable. But the fact that you have to crack through a glued-on frame and dismantle the entire thing to solve what is an intrinsic, mechanical design failure, ranks it at the very bottom of the list of inspired Apple products.

Hello Magic Mouse, and no moving parts.

(via flickr)

Source: Flickr / rdas7