Inventor Of The Computer Mouse Dies At 88

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Seriously, where would we be if this guy didn't invent the mouse? :(

After applying for a patent to cover the device in 1967, Engelbart first demoed an initial prototype of what we now consider the standard PC mouse peripheral at a computer conference in San Francisco in 1968. U.S. Patent No. 3541541 was later granted in 1970.
Click to expand...
 
where would we be
Click to expand...

maybe only smart people who knew how to use computers would be using them? or at least a majority number of them. CLI was the best thing ever for a computer, kept people who were too stupid to learn how to navigate a directory structure away from computers :D
 
The mouse was an evolution, not a revolution.

We had digitizer tablets that were metal, with a pointing device. That pointing device became the mouse.

First mice required a metal mouse pad with grid on them. IIRC, my first one was $700.

But there was a big battle between the Light Pen and the Mouse. And up until the 90's, many motherboards still had light pen ports in them.
 
Elios said:
not so sure
they where trying all kinds of ideas

if you havent seen the Mother of all Demos you should
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY
and remember this is back in 1968
Click to expand...

I stand corrected.

I got into computers in 1974. Monitors and mice were non-existent. Things were done on a teletype or hollerith cards or toggle switches.

The first "mice" I experienced were digitizer tablet pointers for CAD systems.

But that video WAY predates that.
 
Wasn't the first personal computing mouse created in the 80s by Apple? Or did they snag that from Xerox PARC.. I forget....
 
These were high end timeshare mainframes with terminals using mice. The Mac was a free standing desktop with a mouse, circa 1984.

Mice did not catch on easy, neither did color monitors.

Both price and speed stopped the use of mice and color except for apps that absolutely needed it.

Hence the legend of the Mac used for graphic arts. And also the legend of desktop CAD for the PC's.

For a little Hater-Aid: A skilled word processor operator in 1980 using average hardware would smoke most all current secretaries at typing a letter. A mouse slows you down, as does a GUI.

But for Graphic Arts or CAD, the digitizer/mouse and large ($$$) color monitor was a real time saver.
 
foozy said:
Wasn't the first personal computing mouse created in the 80s by Apple? Or did they snag that from Xerox PARC.. I forget....
Click to expand...

no that was GUI they got from Xerox
again mouse was come up with in 66~68 time frame
the video i linked was the first public demo of the mouse in 1968
 
Rest in Peace. I actually read lots about Doug Engelbart in the 80's when the mouse started to become prevalent. It does reminded me a lot of present day, mice where actually pretty controversial when they were introduced to the mainstream.
 
foozy said:
Wasn't the first personal computing mouse created in the 80s by Apple? Or did they snag that from Xerox PARC.. I forget....
Click to expand...

Apple claims to have invented a lot of things they never did. Apple is king of stealing other peoples idea and running with it. One of the reasons i don't buy apple products. The other being i can get better hardware/software by buying someone else's product.
 
heatlesssun said:
Rest in Peace. I actually read lots about Doug Engelbart in the 80's when the mouse started to become prevalent. It does reminded me a lot of present day, mice where actually pretty controversial when they were introduced to the mainstream.
Click to expand...

I didn't buy a mouse for the longest time. In fact, i think it was Doom that forced me to get a mouse... :D

Well, on the PC. I had a mouse for my Amiga, because that actually had a pre-emptive multitasking OS that could effectively use a mouse. And all of this back when PC's were running Windows 3.1. RIP Amiga, you were before your time.
 
As a "Computer Scientist", I am ashamed I have never heard of Engelbart before.

I watched the video of the Mother of all Demos. It almost brought tears to my eyes. In my career, how many of these kinds of demos have I done? Countless.

This man must be one of the most humble people I have ever seen in our world of technology.

I will have to ready more about him. RIP and thank you for all you have given me.

Respect!
 
im surprised so many people on the forum havent seen that demo video
 
OH and that demo shows off much more then just the mouse
but the first multitasking OS, video conferencing, and screen sharing, AND the first use of hyperlinks
shame the cording keyboard never went any where its a neat idea as well
 
Twisted Kidney said:
Steve Jobs is dead!?

(I'm sorry, I had to do it.)
Click to expand...

Kidding aside, I do think Steve Jobs was an amazing pionner.

He led, by knowing who to follow, and help bring some of the great ideas of others to the masses.

He not only helped bring to the masses some great products, but forced others to improve what they were giving consumers. e.g. Windows is what it is today, because Jobs raised the bar with the Mac.

To bring it back to the topic, Jobs helped bring the works of Engelbart, Woz, and like to the masses. A lot more than what most of us ever achieved.

PS. I dont own ANY Apple products, but I am glad they exist.
 
spugnor said:
Apple claims to have invented a lot of things they never did. Apple is king of stealing other peoples idea and running with it. One of the reasons i don't buy apple products. The other being i can get better hardware/software by buying someone else's product.
Click to expand...

Apple never claimed to have invented the mouse or the GUI. They did polish the hell out of what Xerox was doing and sold it for a fraction of what they did, $2500 as opposed to $75k for a basic Star system and $16k per additional workstation.

The most important thing Apple did, aside from aiming a GUI based computer at mainstream users, was to establish UI paradigms and methods that are still used in operating systems today. Drag & drop file and folder manipulation, drop-down menus, overlapping self-repairing windows, clipboard behavior, the list goes on.

Bruce Horn, an engineer at both Xerox and Apple, goes into it here: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.p...&topic=Software Design&sortOrder=Sort by Date

Smalltalk has no Finder, and no need for one, really. Drag-and- drop file manipulation came from the Mac group, along with many other unique concepts: resources and dual-fork files for storing layout and international information apart from code; definition procedures; drag-and-drop system extension and configuration; types and creators for files; direct manipulation editing of document, disk, and application names; redundant typed data for the clipboard; multiple views of the file system; desk accessories; and control panels, among others. The Lisa group invented some fundamental concepts as well: pull down menus, the imaging and windowing models based on QuickDraw, the clipboard, and cleanly internationalizable software.

Smalltalk had a three-button mouse and pop-up menus, in contrast to the Mac's menu bar and one-button mouse. Smalltalk didn't even have self-repairing windows - you had to click in them to get them to repaint, and programs couldn't draw into partially obscured windows. Bill Atkinson did not know this, so he invented regions as the basis of QuickDraw and the Window Manager so that he could quickly draw in covered windows and repaint portions of windows brought to the front. One Macintosh feature identical to a Smalltalk feature is selection-based modeless text editing with cut and paste, which was created by Larry Tesler for his Gypsy editor at PARC.

As you may be gathering, the difference between the Xerox system architectures and Macintosh architecture is huge; much bigger than the difference between the Mac and Windows. It's not surprising, since Microsoft saw quite a bit of the Macintosh design (API's,sample code, etc.) during the Mac's development from 1981 to 1984; the intention was to help them write applications for the Mac, and it also gave their system designers a template from which to design Windows. In contrast, the Mac and Lisa designers had to invent their own architectures. Of course, there were some ex- Xerox people in the Lisa and Mac groups, but the design point for these machines was so different that we didn't leverage our knowledge of the Xerox systems as much as some people think.
Click to expand...

Xerox also sold the Star years before the Mac came out. Here is a video going over its UI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4vC80Pv6Q

Really interesting, its like looking at a GUI from an alternate reality. Again, its nothing like what the Mac (and consequently Windows) UI is like.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top