I’ve always hated the tap functionality of trackpads on laptops. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Every time I try to move the cursor, those over-sensitive pads always register a click when my finger makes first contact. As a result, whenever I use a laptop, mine or otherwise, I always turn off the tap function.

Last Sunday though, for the first time since I “crippled” my first trackpad, I ticked the three check boxes in the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane on my MacBook. The pad on my MacBook now registers clicks and drags without the need of a button.

This is my new mini experiment. The reason I’m bringing it up is because it’s the result of a series of thoughts I had when I was looking at the MacBook Air during my endless free time this past Easter weekend. The thing that dawned on me was not just how really big (or as Apple puts it, “generous”) the trackpad was, but also how tiny the button was.

This was when I realised that future Apple laptops - probably not the ones in the near-future, but further down the road - will forego the mouse button altogether. Think about it, Apple is developing Multi-Touch, and a spacious trackpad makes it a lot more user-friendly, and is the reason why touch works on the iPhone. Try pinching on your MacBook or MacBook Pro trackpad, then do it on the iPhone/iPod touch. Suddenly that button seems like a huge obstacle.

Which is why that button on the Air is just a sliver of aluminium, rather than wide stripe like on other Apple laptops. Going forward, as Apple and third-party developers integrate Multi-Touch more and more into the OS X experience (rather than just the text-zooming, picture-rotating, and page-swiping functions), the mouse button will be sacrificed in the name of usability, and everybody using Apple laptops will have to tap, rather than click. The fact that it’s a little difficult/uncomfortable to click with the thumb will also give further support to getting rid of it. And no, Steve Jobs’ hatred for buttons will have nothing to do with this.

(It will also kill the confused faces people have when they tap on a tap-restricted trackpad.)

This brings me back to the three check boxes in the preference pane. I decided to enable tapping because I wanted to test whether such a future will be universally welcomed in the future, and to prepare myself for a 100%-tap future. So far, it’s okay. I’ve had to retrain my fingers so they would have a lighter and more steady touch, and although I still get some random accidental clicks now and then, I’m adjusting. Maybe I won’t hate it as much now…