Logitech claims to have manufactured one billion mice, which "speaks volumes for the success of this pointing device and the dominance of the graphical user interface of which it is an integral part," Gartner Blog Network analyst Steve Prentice blogged in December. Still, he adds, mice don't factor into a future where touch-screen smart phones, touch-pad laptops and video game controllers with embedded accelerometers (such as those shipped with Nintendo's Wii) rule the day. His prediction: the mouse is an endangered species with less than five years before it joins the ranks of the green screen, punch cards and other computer technologies now honorably retired to technology museums after years of faithful service on desktops everywhere.
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8 Comments
Add CommentThank you to you Sir, Douglas Englebart, for your pioneering work!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou really do deserve a Knighthood for your invention.
Maybe you are not 'widely acknowledged' today, but your name will live on in human history, so long as humans exist.
Thank you to you Sir, Douglas Engelbart!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou really do deserve a Knighthood for your work.
I hope you get the recognition your work so clearly warrants.
Your name will live on in history, so long as humans are here to record and read their own history.
Sorry A,Viirlard, but I can't agree. The mouse may have been around earlier, but there were at least two generation of personal computers that got along fine without it, CPM and DOS. I had a DOS Internet program that did email fine, and could access the web, though crudely. I think there were ways to do it better without the mouse. You may see mention of "keyboard shortcuts, which implies you can do it quicker without the mouse. GUIs may be easier to learn, but harder to use, and which do you want to do the most of? The one thing I liked about Windows was paragraphs automatically reforming when you change window size, but even that doesn't often work anymore. Of course to really work for web access for instance, we'd have to also have an intelligent keyboard. My preference would be 'modifier keys', Shift, Ctrl, Alt etc., under the thumbs for many more easily accessible meanings.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisApparently you missed the whole point of the article. If this was an article on DOS your comments would be valid. The fact is that the vast majority of people today utilzie a mouse and not DOS commands, and by far the mouse is a simple but marvelous invention.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you Mr Engelbart for making millions of people avoid learning various keystroke commands for their everyday computer tasks. Most people today have way to much to think about as we multitask our busy lives.
Greg C
Xerox also for a short time had an input device called a CAT,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisa round version of the touch pad now seen on many laptops
In the new book "The Engelbart Hypothesis: Dialogs with Douglas Engelbart" by Valerie Landau and Eileen Clegg in conversation with Douglas Engelbart he explains how he came up with the idea for the mouse. htpp://engelbartbook.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, "mouses" is the correct plural for the computer mouse since new lexical items take the regular form--this according to Wired Magazine (I forget what issue, it's been a few years now). I wholeheartedly agree, though.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is always nice when a creative person finally gets credit for his or her achievements. Memorizing whole sets of shortcuts is not the best way (yes, I have used Wordstar in CPM), although a few shortcuts for often repeated tasks is better than using the mouse all the time. But a well designed GUI with a mouse allows you to start work instantly, which is the big advantage. The only thing better will probably be when a truly capable voice-driven system is made available - in all languages.
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