The Mouse Turns 40 169
Smivs writes with an excerpt from the BBC marking the anniversary of what may be the most famous tech demo outside Trinity site: "The humble computer mouse celebrates its 40th anniversary today. On 9 December 1968 hi-tech visionary Douglas Engelbart first used one to demonstrate novel ways of working with computers.
The first mouse that Dr Engelbart used in the demo at the Fall Joint Computer Conference (FJCC) was made of wood and had one button.
Much of the technology shown off in the demo inspired the creation of the hardware and software now widely used. ...
The mouse, which was built by Bill English, helped Dr Engelbart demonstrate how text files could be clipped, copied and pasted as well as showing ways of using computer networks to collaborate on projects or co-edit documents." According to the article, "A day of celebration is planned in California to mark the 40th anniversary; with many of the researchers behind the original demo reunited to mark the event."
Re:Priorities, people, priorities (Score:1, Insightful)
Who gives a shit about petty US politics?
Not just mouse: the mother of all demos (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Priorities, people, priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
The Governor of Illinois has been arrested on charges of selling a senatorship to the highest bidder and we're celebrating the birthday of a fucking mouse?
1.) Not everybody is reading this story from Illinois.
2.) The mouse has already survived longer than this scandal has any hopes of being remembered.
3.) What are we supposed to do, collectively worry about what this guy has already done?
We're not Borg and you're not superior for having a spaz attack over it.
Fun with captions (Score:3, Insightful)
I had a good laugh at the photo caption: "The basic workings of a mouse have changed little in 40 years".
The way I remember it, the mouse progressed from two perpendicular wheels on the bottom, to a ball that drove two internal wheels with an optical encoder. to optical mice using a reflective pad. to optical mice using surface image capture. And that's not to mention the mouse-like devices in between (trackpoint, touch pads, trackballs...) and permutations of mouse features (wireless, multiple buttons, scroll wheels). Saying that the mouse has changed little is like saying that TVs have changed little in 40 years.
Re:Mouses (Score:5, Insightful)
"You'd think someone would come along and say, "Enough is enough" and start spelling English the way it sounds: "Enuf is Enuf"."
Already happening! The generation of SMS messengers and facebook status updaters are already setting off down this path.
Re:Congrats (Score:3, Insightful)
Ecch, if you really think Lance Armstrong's battle with cancer made anything "easier" for him, you're woefully mistaken.
Dude, it's been over ten years. We can officially make jokes about it and you are allowed to laugh about it. Especially because he himself has done so (see Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story).
Re:Priorities, people, priorities (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh come on, we already have a special event for when an Illinois politician gets busted for corruption...we call it "Tuesday".
I thought it used to be called "Daley?"