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this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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It's a travesty it's a solely X11 thing and that it wasn't adopted by other operating systems. Back in the day when I was doing a back office job one of the main apps ran on Solaris via what looked like some weird X11 to Windows forwarding app. Clipboard was shared between host and remote app so it was very obvious to see how much of a productivity gain middle-click paste was. Regretfully that's the only app they managed to retire since I left. Mainframe one is still going strong.
Middle mouse paste was great on true 3 button mice. It became a liability with the invention of the mouse wheel, which made it a total crapshoot to try to click that damn button without rolling the wheel at the same time. It’s a classic case of overloaded functionality.
Like imagine if cars put the accelerator into the steering wheel, so you had to press the steering wheel down to accelerate. Everyone would hate it and it would be a safety nightmare. We put up with things on computers that we never would in other areas of life.
I can't remember ever having an issue with the middle button also being the wheel.
Some mouses have scroll wheels that click too easily. So when you scroll, you paste. In my collection of mouses the Logitech ones are fine, gaming mouses are the worst, and the one Microsoft mouse has no way to do a middle click
I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever wanted to click the middle mouse button. The experience of having done so once or twice was bad enough to get me to rebind the action to something else.
Middle mouse button opens links in a new tab is most browsers. I use it constantly.
It's used in lots of games.
In autocad middle mouse is used to pan around the screen, I use it constantly there as well.
Ahhh. I use command-click to open in new tabs.
I haven’t played a game that uses the mouse in several years. I mostly play Roguelikes such as NetHack, DCSS, or Caves of Qud using keyboard controls only, or console games with a controller.
I have never used a CAD program though sometimes I’ve thought about it.
It's so interesting how different people's approaches are to doing just about everything. Keeps things interesting, I guess. I still don't get the wheel/middle-button issue. Unless it's my using cheap as hell mouses that aren't super sensitive. I'm not even talking about using the middle wheel the correct way (😇) but even remapped to something else, I've never had that issue.
Nowadays I use a trackpad for almost everything. I do use a mouse at work but then I mostly use keyboard shortcuts for everything I can (Excel really flies when you know some keyboard shortcuts).
This is why I buy 3-button mice. A wheel is too fiddly to be a suitable replacement.
For example:
https://3dconnexion.com/ca/product/cadmouse-pro/
https://www.contourdesign.com/collection/contour-unimouse
For many people this is a non-issue. I think this a case of just accepting we are different and don't need to force our view on everyone else.
Maybe 15 years ago I had a mouse with a tilting scroll wheel (for side scrolling), on that one I did have issues with middle click, for about a month until I got used to clicking straight down.
So maybe it is just a question of practice? Maybe not. But since both options exist there is no need to get upset.
Did you mean to reply to someone else?
Because your comment makes no sense as a response to what I wrote.
No, it was your assertion that a wheel being too fiddly. It seemed quite broad (stating it as an universal truth). It might be for you, but not for most people (but you wrote it as an unqualified statement).
The qualification was established in the first sentence.
And nothing about my comment suggested being upset or trying to force a view on anyone else.
Good day.