The inventor of the mouse died

[robcat2075]

Douglas Engelbart conceived of the mouse in 1964 and gave it its first big demonstration in 1968...

 

Computer Visionary Who Invented the Mouse

 

 

the first mouse?

 

 

 

For those who can't get enough of early computer history here is "The mother of all demos" recorded in 1968 where he presented this mouse and GUI and networking technology to an audience for the first time

 

 

I've only sampled it but it appears to have the essential elements in place: pointing and selecting, links that go to other places, moving things graphically.

 

One cosmetic that is awkwardly absent is "hovering", the links don't change appearance when the mouse is over them, but that's a minor point.

 

He was showing this stuff in 1968 and it took nearly 20 years for it to hit mainstream.

[Gerry]

Amazing.

[Roger]

Would be interesting to see what an alternate universe would look like where Xerox knew how to capitalize on this.

I think Steve Jobs (apocryphal anecdote warning) accused Bill Gates of ripping him off at one point, and he said "yeah but you ripped off Xerox PARC first".