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KF5JRV > TECH 22.04.16 12:21l 96 Lines 4988 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 1873_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: First Computer Mouse
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<JM1YTR<JE7YGF<N9PMO<N0KFQ<KF5JRV
Sent: 160422/1116Z 1873@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
"Father of the Mouse"
Doug Engelbart invented the computer mouse in the early 1960s in his
research lab at Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International).
The first prototype was built in 1964, the patent application for this
"X-Y position indicator for a display system" was filed in 1967, and
US Patent 3,541,541 was awarded in 1970. Although many impressive
innovations for interacting with computers have followed in the last
50 years since its invention, the mouse remains to this day the most
efficient hands on pointing device available.
The basic idea for the mouse first came to him in 1961 while sitting
in a conference session on computer graphics, his mind mulling over
the challenge of making interactive computing more efficient. It
occurred to him that, using a pair of small wheels traversing a tabletop,
one wheel turning horizontally, one turning vertically, the computer
could track their combined rotations and move the cursor on the display
accordingly. The wheels could function something like the wheels on a
planimeter – a tool used by engineers and geographers to measure areas
on a map, blueprint, drawing, etc. – but in this case, rolling the wheels
around on the tabletop would plot the x,y coordinates for a cursor on a
computer screen. He recorded the idea in his notebook for future
reference.
A little over a year later, Engelbart received a long-awaited grant at
SRI to launch his dream research initiative titled "Augmenting Human
Intellect," for which he envisioned intellectual workers sitting at
high-performance interactive display workstations, accessing a vast
online information space in which to collaborate on important problems.
He hired a small research team, and set up a basic lab with computer
and teletypes, and finally, a display terminal.
By now there were several off-the-shelf solutions for moving a cursor
and selecting something on a display screen, but no good data about
which would be most efficient to meet Engelbart's "high-performance"
requirement. He applied for and was awarded a small grant from NASA
to explore that question.
Engelbart and his research staff rounded up then best-of-breed
pointing devices to compare, and rigged up some in-house prototypes
to add to the mix, such as a foot pedal and a knee-operated device.
Engelbart also reviewed his earlier notes with his lead engineer Bill
English, who built a prototype of the hand-held device with
perpendicular wheels mounted in a carved out wooden block, with a
button on top, to test with the others.
In 1965 Engelbart's team published the final report of their study
evaluating the efficiency of the various screen-selection techniques.
They had pitted the mouse against a handful of other devices, some
off the shelf, some of their own making.
The mouse won hands down, and was thus included as standard equipment
in their research moving forward. In 1967, SRI filed for the patent
on the mouse, under the more formal name of "x,y position indicator
for a display system," and the patent was awarded in 1970.
Enter, the Keyset:
In the meantime, to further increase efficiency,
Engelbart's team thought to offer a companion to the mouse – a device
for the left hand to enter commands or text while the right hand was
busy pointing and clicking. After trying out several variations, they
settled on a telegraph-style "keyset" with five piano-like keys. This
keyset also became standard equipment in the lab. Both devices were
introduced to the public in Engelbart's 1968 demonstration, now known
as the "Mother of All Demos"
In Doug's Words:
"The mouse we built for the [1968] show was an early prototype that
had three buttons. We turned it around so the tail came out the top.
We started with it going the other direction, but the cord got
tangled when you moved your arm.
I first started making notes for the mouse in '61. At the time,
the popular device for pointing on the screen was a light pen,
which had come out of the radar program during the war. It was
the standard way to navigate, but I didn't think it was quite right.
Two or three years later, we tested all the pointing gadgets available
to see which was the best. Aside from the light pen there was the
tracking ball and a slider on a pivot. I also wanted to try this
mouse idea, so Bill English went off and built it.
We set up our experiments and the mouse won in every category, even
though it had never been used before. It was faster, and with it
people made fewer mistakes. Five or six of us were involved in these
tests, but no one can remember who started calling it a mouse.
I'm surprised the name stuck.
We also did a lot of experiments to see how many buttons the mouse
should have. We tried as many as five. We settled on three. That's
all we could fit. Now the three-button mouse has become standard,
except for the Mac."
– Source: The Click Heard Round The World, by Ken Jordan, WIRED 2004.
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