Happy 40th Birthday, Mouse

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Happy 40th Birthday, Mouse

On the 9th December 1968, Douglas Engelbart brought us the joystick of the future when he used a wooden mouse with one button to select text.

Created for him by Bill English, the mouse was meant to act as an extension of the human hand, with the 'click' representing pointing to something with your real hand.

From the humble two-button knock-off right up to the £12,400 diamond encrusted mouse featured here [http://www.fabstuff.net/products/664], mice have run alongside the personal computer revolution since Windows 3.1.

Folks in California, of course, are having a day's worth of celebrations for this landmark event, and you can't help but wonder what the world of computing would have been like without the invention of this little plastic tool.

But that's not the only thing that came out of FJCC at that time: video conferencing, full text editing, hyperlinks - the building blocks of the WYSIWYG [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG] & GUI [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface] we have today.

So, raise a USB to one of the unsung heroes of games, the humble mouse, and his 40 years of toil under our sweaty hands.

Picture [http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/316668966/]

Source: BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7768481.stm] via Silent D.

Permalink

 

[calelogan]

Kudos to the mouse!

Most definitely one of the most important user-interaction tools in the world of technology!

Nothing says "surgical precision" like a mouse...and well...a scalpel.

 

[SnowCold]

Wait, since Window 3.1.?, what did they use untill then?

 

[Aardvark Soup]

Wait, since Window 3.1.?, what did they use untill then?

Also mouses (or mice, what's the plural of a computer mouse actually?), or just the keyboard. With Windows 3.1 they probably just got more popular.

 

[Xaryn Mar]

Well, before win 3.1. the graphical interface was not very widespread, as far as I remember the mac and Amiga used a mouse and graphical interfaces but most pc's used only DOS and keyboard.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Yep, I remember seeing my first mouse around that time. Normally it was cursor keys.

 

[Neosage]

They used a little rubber ball in the middel of the keyboard didn't they?

 

[MindBullets]

Here's to the mouse: the one thing that truly separates PC gaming from consoles.

*raises his pint*

 

[xitel]

I love my mouse. It's one of those tiny portable ones. And Root, where's your holly?

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Wait, since Window 3.1.?, what did they use untill then?

Keyboard shortcuts. Like "Alt+F4" = close window.

 

[Zallest]

I've had my mouse for 6 years. all hail the mouse!

 

[John Funk]

That lumbering monstrosity in the picture is not a mouse. Real mice have a right button.

 

[Susurrus]

That lumbering monstrosity in the picture is not a mouse. Real mice have a right button.

QFT. I don't understand Apple's refusal to have more than one button. Whatever they say, it limits functionality, and I honestly can't see why they don't just accept this and move on.

 

[SnowCold]

Wait, since Window 3.1.?, what did they use untill then?

Also mouses (or mice, what's the plural of a computer mouse actually?), or just the keyboard. With Windows 3.1 they probably just got more popular.

You don't what is the plural of mouse?! run away before you get raped by the grammar nazi's distant cousion, the Spelling Commi!

BTW, its Mice

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I love my mouse. It's one of those tiny portable ones. And Root, where's your holly?

Be more likely to get a piece of coal. I don't do Xmas.

 

[Aardvark Soup]

Wait, since Window 3.1.?, what did they use untill then?

Also mouses (or mice, what's the plural of a computer mouse actually?), or just the keyboard. With Windows 3.1 they probably just got more popular.

You don't what is the plural of mouse?! run away before you get raped by the grammar nazi's distant cousion, the Spelling Commi!

BTW, its Mice

English isn't my first language, and I knew the plural of a normal mouse is mice. I just didn't know if it was the same for computer mice, although I just realised that is pretty logical.

 

[kapzer]

Mouses for the win! Happy birthday mouse! I wish there was an actual mouse running mine - it'd be so cool. That's what we could have as a celebration! A mouse in a mouse?

 

[Siuss]

It is a happy birthday for the mouse! 40 eh? I really had no idea, but as before raise a pint for our good friend PC gaming!

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I remember getting my first mouse; so few programs supported the thing, but it was good for graphics suites. It was a Christmas gift when I was in University, and as a joke my Mom put a "mouse cozy" for it under the tree that looked like a grey mouse with reading glasses on. (The mouse cord acted as the "mouse"'s tail.)

So happy birthday, convenient pointing device!

-- Steve

 

[Toner]

'Mice; Saving you from having to use those weird Laptop-nipples since (a long time ago)'

Happy Birthday mice, may you continue to give us all mightily awesome pointing-capabilities for many more years to come.