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Yes. That was some really stupid design.
There were several third-party adaptors that snapped onto the mouse to make it longer so that you could tell which direction it was facing. The iCatch sat on the back.
The Contour Unitrap encased the mouse.
I think there was also a third one that replaced the coloured plastic side parts.

Still, it was not as bad as Digital Equipment's puck mouse that had two wheels on the bottom. That one was not just round but also difficult to move where you wanted.

Of course, if you keep reading through the site that you linked us to, you'll see that while Engelbart's demo was in 1968, he had developed his mouse in 1963. And it doesn't say that the Telefunken mouse was on sale then, but rather in October 1968 it was featured in corporate literature and was being used in installations of their TR 440 computer. Even if we assume that Jan 1 1968, Telefunken started selling their mouse, Engelbart's mouse predates that by almost 5 years.

This timeline helps explain things

Reading comprehension must be a thing of the past, you youngins and your Upset Aves, get off my lawn.

[T]hank you for not claiming Apple invented the mouse and giving credit where credit is due...

Except he didn't give proper credit. While Xerox had the first commercial sale of the mouse, it was invented by
Doug Engelbart.

Telefunken in Germany beat Engelbart and Xerox to it and was already selling a mouse called the "Rollkugel" before Engelbart's demo as an optional peripheral with it's computers. Engelbart did his demo on December 9, 1968, Telefunken was already selling mice by that time.

Considering that the connector isn't the eventual female DB9 standard for PCs, it has no markings at all other than "Microsoft" in the housing, uses a potentiometer rather than an optical sensor, and has those roller bearings strongly reminiscent of a Xerox Alto mouse, I'm pretty sure that it at least doesn't post-date the first PC generation by much if at all....

"Xerox PARC *DID NOT* invent the mouse. Engelbart did it also at SRI."

Um, Telefunken had a mouse with a ball before Engelbart had his with the wheels. That is, the German mouse was already like the (mechanical) mice we have today. See http://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/misc/telefunken.shtml

About 10 years ago, I used a Sun workstation for a while. It had an optical mouse which required a mouse pad (with a grid on it). Despite using that system for about 1.5 years, I never got used to having limits on where I could put the mouse. I now avoid mouse pads like the plague.

I actually prefer those to conventional ball mice. The most amazingly trouble-free mechanical contact mouse design I ever saw was the Hawley/Digital "flying saucer" mouse featured on VAXen and DECstations, which had two circular wheels set at shallow angles on its underside -- there was no mechanism to carry mouse gunk inside.

About 10 years ago, I used a Sun workstation for a while. It had an optical mouse which required a mouse pad (with a grid on it). Despite using that system for about 1.5 years, I never got used to having limits on where I could put the mouse. I now avoid mouse pads like the plague.

I actually prefer those to conventional ball mice. The most amazingly trouble-free mechanical contact mouse design I ever saw was the Hawley/Digital "flying saucer" mouse featured on VAXen and DECstations, which had two circular wheels set at shallow angles on its underside -- there was no mechanism to carry mouse gunk inside.

Here you go, sir. http://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/hawley/