Mouse scroll wheel ‘inventor’ basically says we’re all using it wrong

If you use a mouse with your computer, you probably use a scroll wheel.

Except, you’re probably using it wrong.

At least, that’s what possible scroll wheel ‘inventor’ and Oculus Co-Founder Jack McCauley says in an interview with IGN:

It’s not used in the way that I intended it to be used…. I intended it to move forward into an application. So you can go X and Y with a cursor, but I wanted to go into it.

I say “possible” creator because though McCauley says he came up with it, and has numerous hardware credits to his name, a quick glance at the scroll wheel’s Wikipedia page shows many possible inventors, none of which are McCauley. Who knows who was first.

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It’s not clear what he means by going “into” apps. Zooming, perhaps? Or adding a 3 depth layer in the Z axis? Regardless, it’s interesting to note how a feature we use every day may have had a completely different purpose at the outset. Much like Nyan Cat on the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar.