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.

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.