IMO there’s no objective reason why. Natural scrolling is not what a lot of people are used to with a mouse, but it’s perfectly usable and even more consistent if you’re using the Magic Mouse, which uses a touch surface instead of a mechanical wheel. I, for example, always make my Windows and Linux machine use natural scrolling like I’m used to from my Mac and my life isn’t any better or worse because of it.
It is even part of our language: you "scroll down".
I think regardless of the direction you move your fingers, “scroll down” means the same thing: “scroll to a lower part”
I'm the opposite - I was surprised by how much of an improvement I found natural scrolling after decades of computer use. I now use an autohotkey script when on windows to get the same behavior as I get on macOS.
I can certainly see the switching cost not being worth it and wanting a setting that applies to the mouse and not the touchpad, but I'm failing to see how it's anything other than a switching cost.
For work, I use a Mac as my daily computer, but also use Linux at home, and a ChromeOS for travel. My Mac is heavily customized to behave like my Linux desktop, but there's little hope for ChromeOS, which means all my muscle memory is gone.
I wish we'd have better standards, and at least a universal way to customize keyboard shortcuts. Unfortunately we're far away from that. Even on Mac and Linux.
Is there something specific here that's not just toggling the scroll direction to the right value in window's settings menu? It's had it for years at this point.
> I can certainly see the switching cost not being worth it and wanting a setting that applies to the mouse and not the touchpad, but I'm failing to see how it's anything other than a switching cost.
For me at least, you're fighting against decades of habitual usage. I have a mental model for how I expect my controls to work. I could switch - but I see zero value in doing so (what's the upside?) and a whole lot of wasted effort.
It's like a controller - Inverted exists. I understand that some folks like it. There are rare cases (usually when controlling an aircraft) in games when I might choose to use it. But by far and large... I just do not want an inverted controller. It's making me think harder for zero net benefit (and much worse in game results...).
Are you sure about that? I had to edit some registry values on my gaming machine to get natural scrolling.
The first couple of seconds using it differently are confusing, then _click_, brain switches over.
Maybe this only happens if you regularly need to use different machines.
When I use someone else’s computer that uses the old scroll direction it just seems clunky and artificial.
For general computer use and coding, I prefer the trackpad.
Other times, I have it plugged into a monitor and a desktop keyboard. In those cases, I want a real mouse plugged in.
