Gratuitously making a mouse unusable during charging, where there was an easy and obvious way to make it usable during charging, is bad design.

But there's no easy and obvious way to make a good cable connector that will make the mouse usable during charging. You could add a connector that works somewhat poorly, on the theory that those shortcomings don't matter since the mouse will only be plugged in occasionally and briefly. But if you do that then many users will in fact leave the mouse plugged in permanently, "just in case", effectively transforming it, in their experience, from a nice wireless mouse to a dodgy wired mouse. (It's much the same story if you add a connector which is mechanically robust and doesn't make the mouse feel horrible to use while in use, but makes it laborious to plug and unplug the cable.) Now you could argue that the decision to avoid that is patronising design, or manipulative design, or design that doesn't respect the user's authority. But it's not an obvious mistake, at least.

Of course it's an obvious mistake. That's why people laugh out loud when they see the photo of the thing charging.

> That's why people laugh out loud when they see the photo of the thing charging.

That's why it's an apparent mistake. It's only an obvious mistake if there's an obviously—and really, not just apparently—better solution.

> But if you do that then many users will in fact leave the mouse plugged in permanently, "just in case", effectively transforming it, in their experience, from a nice wireless mouse to a dodgy wired mouse.

I had a reasonably cheap wireless mouse back in the early 2000s which could take rechargable lithium batteries and charge them with a wire that also allowed me to use the mouse at the same time.

I'm no power user, that device lasted me years and the reason it's still not used all the time is the cable frayed and died after 10 years.

What's wrong with being able to use it as a wired mouse? Apple's bluetooth keyboard can be used as a wired keyboard for people that want that or in emergencies.

Actually, it's in the article:

"There was yet another mouse, with a bizarre charge-my-belly design. Everyone else would have put a Lightning port on the front or back, or even had a recessed horizontal port beneath so you could keep using the thing while it charged."

As a user of the said mouse, I agree with you: it is not a bad design. I would be surprised if those claiming otherwise have never used one. This is common with Apple critics: many a quick to criticize things or solutions without ever trying.

they did mention the upside charged mice. it is a great example of bad design