The Computer Mouse
Left click, right click, double clicks. These are the common tasks that we do
with our computer mouse, a popular pointing device that makes editing and formatting documents a lot easier and allows easy navigation of software menus.
This input device is called a mouse precisely because it resembles one, with the cord being the tail, but most important, the way the cursor moves with the swift motion of the device.
This crafty device was introduced to the world of computing in 1968 by Douglas Engelbart. Even before personal computers (PCs) became popular in the late 1970s. Engelbart had already invented several interactive and user-friendly systems (aside from the mouse) such as windows, hypertext, and other user-interface systems.
Engelbart’s inventions were considered ahead of his time, probably driven by his reasoning that the stateof our current technology controls our ability to manipulate information, and that fact in turn will control our ability to develop new, improved technologes. His most memorable patent- The X-Y position indicator for a Display System- The prototype of the computer mouse is an indelible evidence of his dedication to his research ideals.
Today, it is difficult to imagine a PC without a mouse. It is as if one is missing a limb with out the computer mouse around. What with the countries windows to open and drop down menus to click, the computer mouse is definitely an advantage over memorizing all keyboard shortcuts, which used to be fundamental in the early 1990s.