2023 Author: Gordon Kinson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 08:36
On December 9, 1968, a conference on interactive computing was held in Silicon Valley, at which Douglas Engelbart presented the first, little resembling a modern mouse, a manipulator for a graphical interface. Since then, the mouse has become an integral part of the personal computer.
The first prototype, presented by Engelbart, personified its creator, a real geek - a wooden block with a single button, reminiscent of the nuclear missile launcher from the films of the time. It is not surprising that the author "got his hands on" patent rights for such a revolutionary invention only in 1970, and the first device, which had a mouse in the delivery set, was released only in 1981 - it was the Xerox 8010 SIS minicomputer. It should be added that the first mice from Xerox cost $ 400, which, taking into account inflation, is equivalent to about $ 1000 today. However, the history of the relationship between Xerox, which actually missed the opportunity to become the No. 1 company in the world of PCs and Apple, which took this opportunity, put everything in its place - in 1983 Apple introduced its own manipulator complete with the Lisa computer.
By that time, the device had undergone a number of significant modifications. So, the first mouse, presented by Engelbart, had a direct drive - two "wheels" that perceive horizontal and vertical movement, and the first Xerox mice already had a ball drive familiar to users of the 80-90s generation, which allows you to move the pointer in any direction. Surely most of our readers also remember the shortcomings of this design, for example, constantly dirty reading rollers. It is interesting that the USSR produced its own mouse with a ball drive - "Kolobok", the ball of which, in the best traditions of the Union, was completely metal and weighed more than a modern mouse assembly.
When the level of convenience in interacting with the graphical interface through the mouse was appreciated, the manipulator began to develop comprehensively - controls, encoders, etc. were modified. This is how optical mice appeared, which perceive movement using an LED and two photodiodes, laser mice using a semiconductor laser, and other less popular varieties (induction, gyroscopic, video mouse, etc.). We should also mention wireless mice, which, despite the ambiguous development history, gained deserved popularity with the transition to the BlueTooth radio connection type.
Despite the parallel development of alternative technologies (touchpads, trackballs, graphical tablets, touch screens, etc.), the computer mouse remains the most popular manipulator for the modern PC user. The apogee of development (if we take into account only mass devices) can be considered the Apple Magic Mouse, released in 2009. The device is a hybrid that uses a touch-sensitive touchpad as controls that supports gesture control.
See also:
- How to connect a mouse to iPad.
- The American showman invested $ 1 million in a keyboard for the iPhone.
- The embodiment of environmentally friendly ideas - a computer mouse "yo-yo" [Concept].
- Folding Pen Mouse is a transforming mouse that turns into a stylus (concept).
- Apple is patenting specific gestures for accessing applications and functions.
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