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The Mouse Turns 40
Smivs writes with an excerpt from the BBC marking the anniversary of what may be the most famous tech demo outside Trinity site: "The humble computer mouse celebrates its 40th anniversary today. On 9 December 1968 hi-tech visionary Douglas Engelbart first used one to demonstrate novel ways of working with computers.
The first mouse that Dr Engelbart used in the demo at the Fall Joint Computer Conference (FJCC) was made of wood and had one button.
Much of the technology shown off in the demo inspired the creation of the hardware and software now widely used. ...
The mouse, which was built by Bill English, helped Dr Engelbart demonstrate how text files could be clipped, copied and pasted as well as showing ways of using computer networks to collaborate on projects or co-edit documents." According to the article, "A day of celebration is planned in California to mark the 40th anniversary; with many of the researchers behind the original demo reunited to mark the event."
We're rejoicing over an input device?
No keyboard monument? Or was it overshadowed by the typewriter?
I'm a satanic clam.
The mouse was seen at the local Maserati dealership evaluating cars with his 20-something year old girlfriend.
Oh come on, we already have a special event for when an Illinois politician gets busted for corruption...we call it "Tuesday".
One button. You have to take your hand off the keyboard. Lame.
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What was amazing wasn't just that he unveiled the mouse, but pretty much launched the concept of personal computing as we know it today, including many of the metaphors we take for granted in the modern graphical OS, as well as video communications, email, hypertext... amazing scenes.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Aw, and it doesn't look a day over 30.
Except it lost its ball. Pretty sad to lose a ball while you're in your prime.
Developers: We can use your help.
Dude, this is Slashdot. We don't use freakin mice around here. Keyboards are always faster
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And lets be clear. The plural of computer mouse is most definitely not 'computer mouses'.
What? They have copied the "one button mouse" idea from Apple!! Damn Copycats!! Thats why Apple needed to invent the Mighty Mouse so there would not be so many copies!
(what's happening. How do I get out of this)
This story: How to clean your mouse This memo is from an unnamed computer company. It went to all field engineers about a computer peripheral problem. The author of this memo was quite serious. The engineers rolled on the floor. "Mouse balls are now available as FRU (Field Replacement Unit). Therefore, if a mouse fails to operate or should it perform erratically, it may need a ball replacement. Because of the delicate nature of this procedure, properly trained personnel should only attempt replacement of mouse balls. Before proceeding, determine the type of mouse balls by examining the underside of the mouse. Domestic balls will be larger and harder than foreign balls. Ball removal procedures differ depending upon the manufacturer of the mouse. Foreign balls can be replaced using the pop-off method. Domestic balls are replaced by using the twist-off method. Mouse balls are not usually static sensitive. However, excessive handling can result in sudden discharge. Upon completion of ball replacement, the mouse may be used immediately. It is recommended that each replacer have a pair of spare balls for maintaining optimum customer satisfaction. Any customer missing his balls should suspect local personnel of removing these necessary items."
The Governor of Illinois has been arrested on charges of selling a senatorship to the highest bidder and we're celebrating the birthday of a fucking mouse?
1.) Not everybody is reading this story from Illinois.
2.) The mouse has already survived longer than this scandal has any hopes of being remembered.
3.) What are we supposed to do, collectively worry about what this guy has already done?
We're not Borg and you're not superior for having a spaz attack over it.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
... cleaning mouse balls jokes turn 39.
I had a good laugh at the photo caption: "The basic workings of a mouse have changed little in 40 years".
The way I remember it, the mouse progressed from two perpendicular wheels on the bottom, to a ball that drove two internal wheels with an optical encoder. to optical mice using a reflective pad. to optical mice using surface image capture. And that's not to mention the mouse-like devices in between (trackpoint, touch pads, trackballs...) and permutations of mouse features (wireless, multiple buttons, scroll wheels). Saying that the mouse has changed little is like saying that TVs have changed little in 40 years.
Holy shit. This guy is right! How naive we've been! We've been reading news about technology on a technology focused website while this whole time our technology news site should have been posting items that have nothing to do with technology! What kind of crazy mixed up world is this!?!
Computer screens as we know them, did not start becoming generally available until the mid 1970s. The breakthrough was an inexpensive memory chip large enough to hold 5 by 7 patterns of ascii characters 5 x 7 x 40 (1400 bits) and 80 x 48 screenfull of characters (19K at 6 bits per character). A bit of memory cost about $1 until Intel introduced the first kilobyte chips in 1970 (two years after Englebert's demo) dropping the bit price to pennies in mid 1970s. Then it became practical to sell character computer terminals. Before then computer users used punchcards, punchtapes, teletypes, and line printers.
These were character screens however. Graphics screens took another 10-15 to become personal. The first generation were programmable oscilloscopes, i.e. vector drawing machines. They had their special graphics languages, e.g. GKS, that emulated pen plotters. Limited bit map grapics came in the meantime. Steve Wozniak is famous for one baroque scheme of graphics in the Apple II. It wasnt pure bitmap as we know today. Xerox PARC sold the first B&W bitmaps at $30K a pop ($120K in 2008$). Then about 1980s the first general purpose color raster screen computers came out. At $30K a terminal these were shared in a lab. That was because a megabyte still cost $10K. Finally as memory prices dropped "workstation"-class computers came out around 1985 giving each scientist their personal graphics screen. This was SUN Microsystems original product.
In 2008 I bought a $7 cellphone with 64K pixel color graphics screen.
Oh come on, we already have a special event for when an Illinois politician gets busted for corruption...we call it "Tuesday".
I thought it used to be called "Daley?"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!