Those of us old enough to remember when the first Macs came out without a keyboard because the mouse was all you needed, and the first terminal emulators had to have a pull-down menu for a keyboard in case the user was on a mouse-only machine, think "The Wheel" is uproariously funny.
I think of those early Macs every time the keyboard pops up on my iPod Touch.
> I don't think Microsoft will copy this one, however...
Nah, they'll do it with only The Joystick instead of The Wheel. :)
Actually, though, addressing the topic of the thread, I fail to see what's wrong with a technology having product concept and design meetings that include sessions of "What the Competition is Doing Right and How Can We Do As Well". It's just part of business.
Actually, between you and me, here's a little inside information from the Halls of Redmond...
It uses the controls from Flight Simulator. But only the foot pedals, so you can keep your hands free for the mouse...;)
Actually, though, addressing the topic of the thread, I fail to see what's wrong with a technology having product concept and design meetings that include sessions of "What the Competition is Doing Right and How Can We Do As Well". It's just part of business.
I fully agree. And if folks don't think Apple doesn't do the same thing, well, all I can say is that when it comes time to design new audio subsystems there's always a lab full of laptops from Dell, HP, Sony, Toshiba, Acer, etc.
Same thing when one of those other companies looks to upgrade things as well - you see Macs in the mix along with all other brands.
I believe your memory is a tad faulty, dayglored. The original Macintosh as released on January 22, 1984, came with a keyboard and a mouse. What it lacked and people complained about were cursor keys for keyboard navigation. Apple's response was that the mouse was sufficient for moving around text windows.
