40th Birthday of Computer Mouse taking it towards death?
December 2, 2008
Many people using laptops have started using touchpads already.
The humble computer mouse has been serving us for 40 years now. It was invented by Doug Engelbart and his team at the Stanford Research Institute in California when they felt that there was a need of an easier way to control computers.
Mouse entered the arena of common use when it was launched by Apple Macintosh in 1984. As the magical gadget continues to help ordinary people in using the computers in an easier and more sophisticated way, it might as well be overtaken by a more advanced product that would take the technology to another level.
Prior to Apple Macintosh buying its patent for just $40,000, its commercial version was developed by Xerox during the 1870’s. It had to be released with Xerox Star computer system in 1981 but the system failed to succeed. Then Apple bought the patent and made its success assured. The mouse and keyboard combo is still in use across the world.
The birthday will be celebrated next week when Engelbart returns to Stanford. But mouse could be facing death at the hands of new technology which kees on adding more features to it. The control methods of both the Wii and iPhone show the future, a future in which the mouse will be seen as historic rather than current. Many people using laptops have started using touchpads already.
Source: freshnews.in
December 9th, 2008 at 21:01
This is encredible that the mouse is 40 years old and i’am only 12 years old.