Today, the mouse is an essential input device for all modern computers. But more recently, everything was different. Computers did not have a graphical command and data could only be entered using the keyboard. And when the very first appeared, you will be surprised to see what kind of evolution this familiar object has gone through.
Who Invented the First Computer Mouse?
He is considered the father of this device. He was one of those scientists who try to bring science closer even to ordinary people and make progress available to everyone. He invented the first computer mice in the early 1960s in his laboratory at Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International). The first prototype was built in 1964, and was named the "XY Position Indicator for a Display System" in a 1967 patent application for this invention. But the official document number 3541541 was received only in 1970.
But is it that simple?
It would seem that everyone knows who created the first computer mouse. But trackball (ball drive) technology was first used much earlier by the Canadian Navy. Back in 1952, the mouse was a simple bowling ball attached to a complex hardware system that could sense the ball's movement and mimic its movement on the screen. But the world found out about this only years later - after all, it was a secret military invention that was never patented or tried to be mass-produced. 11 years later, it was already known, but D. Engelbart recognized it as ineffective. At that moment, he still did not know how to connect his mouse vision and this device.
How did the idea come about?
The main ideas about the invention first came to D. Engelbart's mind in 1961, when he was at a conference on computer graphics and pondered the problem of increasing the efficiency of interactive computing. It occurred to him that by using two small wheels that move on the tabletop (one wheel rotates horizontally and the other vertically) the computer can track the combinations of their rotation and, accordingly, move the cursor on the display. To some extent, the principle of operation is similar to a planimeter - a tool used by engineers and geographers to measure distances on a map or drawing, etc. Then the scientist wrote down this idea in his notebook for future use.
Step into the Future
A little over a year later, D. Engelbart received a grant from the institute to launch his research initiative entitled "Improving the Human Mind". Under it, he represented a system where people of intellectual work, working at high-performance computer stations with interactive displays, have access to a vast online information space. With it, they can collaborate on critical issues. But this system sorely lacked a modern input device. After all, in order to comfortably interact with objects on the screen, you need to be able to quickly select them. NASA took an interest in the project and provided a grant to build a computer mouse. The first version of this device is similar to the modern one except in size. In parallel, the team of researchers came up with other devices that made it possible to control the cursor by pressing the feet on the pedal or moving the knee of a special clamp under the table. These inventions never caught on, but the joystick, invented at the same time, was later improved and is still used today.
In 1965, D. Engelbart's team published a final report on their research and various methods for selecting objects on the screen. There were even volunteers who participated in the testing. It happened something like this: the program showed objects in different parts of the screen and volunteers tried to click on them with different devices as quickly as possible. In tests, the first computer mice clearly outperformed all other devices and were included as standard equipment for further research.
What did the first computer mouse look like?
It was made of wood and was the first input device to fit in the user's hand. Knowing the principle of its operation, you should no longer be surprised at what the first computer mouse looked like. Under the body there were two metal disc wheels, a diagram. There was only one button, and the wire went under the wrist of the person holding the device. The prototype was assembled by one of the members of D. Engelbart's team, his assistant William (Bill) English. He originally worked in a different laboratory, but soon joined the input device project, developed and implemented the design of a new device.
By tilting and swinging the mouse, you can draw perfectly straight vertical and horizontal lines.
In 1967, the body became plastic.
Where did the name come from?
Nobody really remembers who first called this device a mouse. It was tested by 5-6 people, it is possible that one of them voiced the similarity. Moreover, the world's first computer mouse had a tail-wire at the back.
Further improvements
Of course, the prototypes were far from ideal.
In 1968 in San Francisco at a computer conference D. Engelbart presented the improved first computer mice. They had three buttons, in addition to them, the keyboard was equipped with a device for the left hand.
The idea was this: the right hand works with the mouse, highlighting and activating objects. And the left one conveniently calls up the necessary commands using a small keyboard with five long keys, like a piano. At the same time, it became clear that the wire at the operator's hand gets confused when using the device, and that it needs to be brought to the opposite side. Of course, the left-hand attachment did not take root, but Douglas Engelbart used it on his computers until his last days.
Continuing work on improvement
In the further stages of mouse development, other scientists entered the scene. The most interesting thing is that D. Engelbart never received royalties from his invention. Since he patented it as a specialist at the Stanford Institute, it was the institute that controlled the rights to the device.
So, in 1972, Bill English replaced the wheels with a trackball, which made it possible to recognize the movement of the mouse in any direction. Since he was then working at Xerox PARC, this new product became part of the advanced Xerox Alto system by those standards. It was a minicomputer with a graphical interface. Therefore, many people mistakenly believe that the first in Xerox.
The next round of development came with the mouse in 1983, when Apple came into play. The entrepreneur calculated the cost of mass production of the device, which was approximately $ 300. It was too expensive for the average consumer, so the decision was made to simplify the mouse design and replace the three buttons with one. The price dropped to $ 15. While this decision is still considered controversial, Apple is in no hurry to change its iconic design.
The first computer mice were rectangular or square in shape, anatomical rounded design appeared only in 1991. It was introduced by Logitech. In addition to an interesting shape, the novelty was wireless: communication with a computer was provided using radio waves.
The first optical mouse appeared in 1982. For her work, she needed a special mat with a printed mesh. And while a ball in a trackball quickly became dirty and inconvenient in that it had to be cleaned regularly, an optical mouse until 1998 was not commercially viable.
What's next?
As you already know, "tailed" ones with a trackball are practically not used anymore. The technology and ergonomics of computer mice are constantly being improved. And even today, when devices with touchscreens are becoming more and more popular, their sales are not falling.
Hello everyone! In today's post, I will tell you who the inventor of the computer mouse was, what the first workable model looked like, in what year the computer mouse was invented, which company developed the first such serial device and many other facts.
Douglas Engelbart and his wooden toys
For the first time, the device was demonstrated in 1968 at an IT conference in California. It was presented by the researcher of the machine interface Douglas Engelbart, who received a patent for this manipulator two years later.
The designer was born in 1925 in Portland. Has Swedish, Norwegian and Germanic roots. Served in the US Army during World War II.
Upon his return, he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and subsequently a master of science degree from the University of Berkeley. While still a graduate student, he helped create California Digital Computer.
Subsequently, he worked at the Stanford Research Institute, designing magnetic components for computers and trying to reduce the size of the electronic devices used at that time. Prior to the creation of the mouse, he received over ten patents for various inventions.
At the ARC research center, together with a group of scientists, he developed an Online System, which became the prototype of a modern computer interface, the basic elements of which were displaying a raster image on the screen, a mouse-type manipulator, sharing tools, hypertext markup, and so on. 
As you can see, the mouse we are used to did not appear by chance - this was preceded by years of painstaking work.
The history of creation took place at a time when there was not only software for computers, but more or less standardized components - each institution that worked on the creation of such machines used its own unique developments, both in terms of architecture and software.
The mother of all conferences
Of course, Douglas Engelbart's speech was not as pretentious as Steve Jobs's - after all, he was a scientist, not a marketer. Instead of colorful descriptions, the designer simply demonstrated how this device works.
Nevertheless, the scientific community reacted with interest to the new invention. Even then it became clear that this technology has great potential. The forecasts have been confirmed - today, most users find it difficult to imagine working with a PC without using a mouse.
Talking about the very first mouse, one cannot fail to mention how it looked. If you look at the photo, you can understand that the body was made of wood. To read the movements of the manipulator, longitudinal and transverse rollers were used.
The device weighed almost a kilogram! Read about the internal structure of a modern computer mouse and its principle of operation.
I want to add that in the year when the computer mouse was first used, the first videoconference was also presented by Douglas Engelbart. A microphone with headphones and ordinary TV cameras were used for communication. 
And although the interlocutor was in the next room, the foundation for modern communication technologies was laid even then. 50 years ago, Karl!
I also want to note that in 1968 it was the presentation of a workable prototype that took place. And he himself, such a manipulator, came up with the inventor in 1951, when he seriously started developing his own operating system oN-Line System.
The creation of software for it gave rise to the concept of windows (yes, it was not Bill Gates who came up with the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating "windows"), but the emergence of the mouse - a by-product caused by the need to work with such an interface.
Initially, the mouse was considered as one of the possible options. If the situation were different, perhaps modern PCs would look different.
First production models
They were produced by The Mouse House, at a price of $ 400 (over 1000 at the current rate, adjusted for inflation). Another 300 cost an interface board to connect such a device. This price is due to a complex and not very reliable design at that time.
The only difference from the prototype was that the body was already made of plastic, so such devices were lighter. So, the mouse was officially recognized, but it remained available only to developers of computer systems.
The first serial computer to use a mouse was the Xerox 8010. Its manipulator had three buttons and did not differ much in price. 
Two years later, in 1983, Apple began mass production of Macintosh computers. The cost of the manipulator was reduced to $ 25. Approximately the price of a modern high-quality gaming model, if that.
The design was significantly improved - instead of a pair of rollers, a plastic ball was used. The main feature is that Yabloko abandoned manual assembly by launching conveyor production.
This move by Apple helped popularize this type of manipulator. Thanks to Macintosh, developers of other platforms, including PC, began to use the mouse.
And the final chord is the launch of the Windows 95 operating system, which took place in 1995. A mouse-oriented OS owes much of its success to this very manipulator.
Today, when Windows is the dominant OS in the world (including illegally used versions), it is extremely difficult to imagine a computer without a mouse.
Moreover, such a successful technology is used in gadgets connected with computers only indirectly. For example, in conjunction with a tablet (which is still more a smartphone than a computer) and smart TVs (because it is more convenient to control its functionality with a mouse than with a remote control).
Also publications "" and "" will be useful for you.
Today, no modern desktop computer can do without this device. And on laptops, many professionals prefer to connect it, desperately scolding the touchpads for their hypersensitivity and inconvenient location. But not everyone knows who invented the computer mouse. So let's discuss this issue in more detail.
Few facts
It is known for certain who invented the computer mouse today. This fact is not even disputed, as in many cases with other equally necessary devices invented by inventors. The presentation of the new device took place at a computer conference in the USA (San Francisco). Who is the inventor of the computer manipulator (the mouse was then called that way)? Developed and demonstrated it to the whole world, and it was born even earlier, in 1964. Although the legendary himself claimed that the idea of \u200b\u200bsuch a device came from him in 1951! And in 1970 he received a patent for this invention.
creator, history, evolution
Each thing has its own history, and as it plunges into the past, it acquires its own legends. If the answer to the question, who is the inventor of the computer manipulator (mouse), seems to be clear, then the opinions as to who this device was created for, so to speak, on whose order it was made, differ. Some sources say the mouse was originally designed for Xerox. Others - that they ordered its development at Apple. The inventor himself says that there was no special order as such for the work. The manipulator appeared quite unexpectedly, as a by-product (as is often the case with ingenious things, no one invents them on purpose, but they seem to appear themselves). When Engelbart was developing one of the operating systems, it became necessary for a manipulator to work with windows (in the concept of a window interface). And in 1964, the first working copy was built. This is how the story of the computer mouse begins, the creator of which is the inventor and scientist Douglas Engelbart.
What the first mouse looked like
Its body was carved by hand from wood and had the shape of a box. Inside were a button and two wheels. They rolled on the table as the device moved, allowing the direction and amount of mouse movement to be calculated. And the resulting data was converted into cursor movements on the monitor. Subsequently, the device was refined and improved. And the software was written by Jeff Ralifson. For that time, the manipulator had absolutely amazing capabilities (as can be seen from the demo film dated 1968 and located at the Mouse Museum in Stanford). Then this device has not yet gained worldwide fame and popularity.
The next step
This was followed by an improved version of the mouse from Xerox (1972). It was finalized by Bill English, who worked in the laboratory with Engelbart, and then moved to this firm. Therefore, sometimes the question, who is the inventor of the computer manipulator (mouse), is redirected to this leading company. After all, the device was significantly modified by them: instead of two large wheels, one bearing with two rollers appeared. And most importantly, the design of the mouse body has already begun to resemble the modern outlines that are familiar to our eyes. But the patent still remained with Engelbart. So to the question who is the inventor of the computer manipulator (mouse), it would be more correct to answer by indicating this surname.
Further development
But still, the manipulator as a computer device remained a rather exotic thing right up to the early 80s of the 20th century. But already in 1983, for example, there were about ten companies in the world that produced and sold different models of mice. It is characteristic that some of these companies were organized by Engelbart's employees or by himself. The low popularity of the mouse as a device for a computer could be explained by its very high price in those years. Copier mice cost around 400 dollars, and the boards to which they needed to be connected - another 300. And the device itself had design flaws: it was rather complicated and very unreliable. Thus, for the average general user, the mouse remained inaccessible. Her destiny is researchers and developers who invented the latest computer technology.
Apple's role in mouse history
When developing their later become very popular PCs, it was decided to equip with mice. It was Jobs who ordered the development of a reliable and unpretentious device that would cost only 20-30 bucks and would not break every few days. And now, please, know-how: instead of a bearing, a rubber ball appears, which rolls around in the housing. A different signal transmission system was used, the body was molded plastic as opposed to manual work. This device could be assembled by any worker on the conveyor.
Loud success
The results of the revolution in mouse history were not long in coming. Apple computers, equipped with mice, sold out like cakes in 1984 and were a resounding success around the world. And in 1995, these tailed manipulators also greatly contributed to the start of Windows 95.
Mouse. Types of computer mice
Today there are many more of these devices in the world than computers themselves. This is reasonable, because for its short life (until the model becomes obsolete, and this happens very quickly in our high-speed time) life - 3-5 years maximum - the average PC changes not one mouse, but several, depending on the addictions of its owner. The types of computer mice also differ. Both in appearance and in its inner content. According to their design features and data, computer manipulators (mice) are divided into mechanics, optics, laser, trackball.
Mechanical mice are traditional cord-driven ball models that require constant ball cleaning and are bulky in appearance. Optics work using a different principle. They do not have a ball, but there is an LED and a sensor. Lasers operate with a laser. And trackballs have a convex ball that reduces hand motor skills (as a result, you can operate with one finger). And according to the principle of connection, these devices are divided into wired and wireless. Wired wires use a wire as a connection to a computer, which is connected to it and through which a signal is transmitted. And wireless ones use a special receiver that communicates with a PC. Such devices are good for laptops as they are quite mobile. A significant disadvantage: they occupy one of the computer entrances and use batteries or accumulators, which have to be constantly changed or infected. Almost all mice have two buttons and a wheel (in older models it is absent), but the types of cases from different manufacturers can differ significantly from each other: from classic to modern.
The history of the emergence, development and improvement of manipulators is not as simple and short as it might seem at first glance: for example, an ordinary computer mouse was invented almost half a century ago.
Since then, the entire civilized world has been closely following her reincarnations. As for the first keyboards, their concept appeared long before the advent of the personal computer (remember mechanical typewriters). However, before proceeding to the presentation of the history of these devices, let's define the terminology: by manipulators we mean the following water devices that have ever existed: mouse, keyboard, trackball, trackpoint (pointing stick), graphic tablet (digitizer), light pen, touchpad , touch screen, Roller Mouse, joystick, Kinect and other game manipulators.
How the keyboard changed
The first computers, dating from the late 1940s, supported data entry using both punched cards and teletypes. Later, with the development of computers, punch cards began to be perceived as a relic of the past, and they were replaced by more advanced methods of storing information, such as magnetic tapes.
In the 60s, with the advent of the first video terminals that allowed real-time display of input and output information, text input finally became the main way of human-computer communication. Of course, in those days there were no graphical interfaces yet, and a primitive keyboard was enough to work in text mode.
As mentioned in the introduction, the first keyboards appeared long before personal computers: their history began with the development of mechanical typewriters in 1868. This method of entering information was prompt and convenient, as a result of which it quickly took root. The next step was teletypes, which replaced the telegraph at the beginning of the last century, and then electric typewriters and the first computers appeared. Thus, keyboards from mechanical to electronic. The world's first graphical computer developed at Xerox PARC was the Xerox Alto.
In the first personal computers, the keyboard was part of the case, but later, with the advent of the IBM PC concept, they began to be produced as independent devices, and later their wireless counterparts appeared.
How was the connection between the input device and the operating system of the personal computer carried out? At first, optical interfaces were used for communication, but they brought a lot of inconvenience due to the fact that they required a line of sight between the receiver and the transmitter, failed in bright light, and later they were supplanted by radio interfaces.
In addition to standard keyboards, today gaming keyboardscompletely redesigned for left-handed play (Thrustmaster Tacticalboard and Belkin SpeedPad Nostromo n50), game-changing keypads (Zboard), recessed keyboards (DataHand System), chord keyboards, backlit keyboards, and more. Artemy Lebedev Studio developed optimus project - a keyboard, in which the current value of each key is displayed through a small built-in LCD display, which displays exactly what it is currently controlling. "Optimus" is simultaneously suitable for any keyboard layouts - Cyrillic, Ancient Greek, Georgian, Arabic, can display notes, numbers, special characters, HTML codes, mathematical functions, images, etc. The configurator program allows you to program each button to play a sequence of characters, as well as edit the image for each separate layout.
A similar keyboard was once patented in the United States by Apple.
Among the promising areas of development in recent years, one can single out adaptation of text input for portable devices. On phones and smartphones, traditional keyboards are compressed to twelve keys, each of which is responsible for a mass of characters. To speed up typing, systems like T9 (introduced in 1996) are used, capable of choosing the right word from a dictionary. The Latin QWERTY keyboard layout is currently the most popular of the full-size touchscreen keyboards. Its name comes from the 6 left characters of the top row of the layout. Layouts for many other languages \u200b\u200bof the world have been created on the basis of such a keyboard. The Shark (Shorthand-Aided Rapid Keyboarding) experimental system, developed in 2004 by IBM, was a form of shorthand that allowed words to be entered into a mobile device by marking them letter by letter on a virtual keyboard. For example, to enter the word word, the user did not press four separate virtual keys with the stylus, but simply drew a straight line from the letter "w" to the letter "d". Such a system allowed typing on a virtual keyboard without taking the stylus off the screen, however, the massive introduction of such extensions did not begin.
Another variety - projection keyboard... The idea of \u200b\u200bimplementing a virtual keyboard without wires and buttons was born about a decade ago within the walls of the Israeli company Developer VKB Inc. Presented at CeBIT 2002 by Siemens Procurement Logistics Services, the first virtual keyboard without a single mechanical or electrical element was the first practical implementation of this idea. The creators of the laser interface of the virtual keyboard assumed that in practice their development could be integrated into any mobile device - a phone, laptop, tablet PC, and even sterile medical equipment. However, during the entire existence of the concept, only one model has been developed (iTECH Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard), which is a small box from which an image of the keyboard is projected onto any smooth surface using a laser, and pressing the virtual keys is recorded by a special infrared sensor.
Evolution of the computer mouse
The history of the computer mouse begins with the appearance trackball.
The device was developed for the needs of the military, but the customers were unhappy with the sample provided, and they forgot about the invention until the appearance of the first laptop models, but in these devices, the use of trackballs was subsequently abandoned.
Functionally, the trackball is an inverted mechanical (ballpoint) mouse. The ball is located on top or on the side, and the user can rotate it with the palm or fingers without moving the device body. Despite the external differences, the trackball and the mouse are structurally similar - when moving, the ball rotates a pair of rollers or, in a more modern version, it is scanned by optical movement sensors (like in an optical mouse).
Currently, trackballs are not used in home and office computers, but they have found application in industrial and military computing installations, ultrasound diagnostic devices, where the user has to work in conditions of lack of space and in the presence of vibration. In general, the first computer mouse (in the functionality that we are accustomed to) was invented in 1964 by Douglas Karl Engelbart, an employee of the Stanford Research Institute. The information input device looked like a wooden box with a button that moved on the table on wheels and, counting their turns and turns, entered information into the computer and thus controlled the movement of the cursor on the screen.
Originally mouse was not intended for personal computers, but for more precise control of a point on the radar screen. Note that Engelbart was not alone in creating the manipulator: he was the author of the idea and the developer of the concept, but the device itself was not technically manufactured by him. The first mouse was made by the hands of graduate student Bill English, and Jeff Rulifson, who later joined them, significantly improved the design of the mouse and developed software for it.
Subsequently, the creators of the first mouse received a grant for the serial production of their devices, and at the end of 1968 the first full-fledged mouse appeared, which, unlike the prototype, had not one button, but three.
The next stage in the evolution of computer mice dates back to the 70s of the twentieth century, when engineers began to think about the convenience of using computers for complex technical calculations. So, the first patented computer, which included a mouse, was the Xerox 8010 Star Information System minicomputer, presented to the general public in 1981, and already in 1983 Apple released its own model of a one-button mouse for the Lisa computer, note that this device configuration has been maintained for many years. The computer mouse gained wide popularity thanks to its use in Apple Macintosh computers and later in Windows for IBM PC compatible computers.
Soon, the GUI (Graphic User Interface) replaced text I / O into the realm of specific tasks. By this time, instead of inconvenient wheels, mice were equipped with balls.
The next stage in the evolution of computer mice was the emergence optical manipulators, and later, since the creation in 2004 of the Logitech MX1000 mouse (Fig. 6), their laser wireless analogs with optical and radio interfaces, as well as with induction power supply (devices manufactured by A4Tech).
Another version of this manipulator is 3D mousecapable of working in three-dimensional space.
As conceived by the designers, the use of such devices will enable the user to move freely in three-dimensional space, which can be useful both in games and when working with three-dimensional graphics. The manipulator automatically adjusts to the used 3D editor (AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk 3ds Max). Clicking, moving, rotating or tilting, zooming and rotating the model can all be done at the same time. The main element of a 3D mouse is a motion controller, which in all models has the same operating principle. Six degrees of freedom (three linear and three angular) provide movement and rotation of the model in all directions. In this case, you can turn off the degrees of freedom, invert the axes, swap the functions Zoom in / out and Up / Down. The travel / rotation speed depends on the force applied to the motion controller. Force sensitivity is adjustable via the settings panel.
Noteworthy and graphic tablets (devices from Wacom, Genius, etc.), which are especially appreciated by artists and architects working on a computer. No other manipulator allows you to achieve such a believable imitation of a pencil or brush. The pen of graphic tablets is designed to compensate for the "clumsiness" of the mouse in artistic matters. For example, the system from Genius WizardPad distinguishes 256 degrees of pressure on the pen. The tablet resolution reaches 2540 lines per inch, and its working surface area is 4-5 inches.
The tablet has a serial interface. The device is supplied with drivers for most Microsoft operating systems, including DOS and Windows 3.xx / 95.
Notebook manipulators can be distinguished into a separate group. As you know, mice are not always suitable for working on the road, and trackballs are quite difficult to integrate into the slim body of the device. Here they are replaced touchpads (TouchPad - touch panel).
The touchpad was invented in 1988 by George Gerfeide. Later, Apple Corporation licensed his project and, starting in 1994, began to use it in PowerBook laptops. Since then, the touchpad has become the most common cursor control device for notebook computers. Touchpads work by measuring the capacitance of a finger or measuring the capacitance between sensors. Capacitive sensors are located along the vertical and horizontal axes of the touchpad, which allows you to determine the position of your finger with the desired accuracy. The TouchWriter is a kind of touchpads; it is distinguished by the fact that it is able to perceive pressing both with fingers and with any objects (pencil base, stylus).
Previously, laptop manufacturers used instead of touchpads mini joysticks (trackpoints) located in the center of the keyboard and trackballs. Trackpoint - Pointing stick was invented by research scientist Ted Selker, and subsequently registered by IBM under the TrackPoint trademark. Traditionally, such a joystick has had a replaceable rubber casing, which is made of a rough material for the convenience of the user. The cursor is controlled by determining the applied force (hence the name strain gauge joystick) using a pair of resistive strain gauges (resistive strain gauges). The cursor movement vector is determined according to the applied force. The main drawback of the device was cursor drift, which required frequent recalibration. Therefore, over time, its implementation was abandoned.
In order to prevent the use of the manipulators built into the laptop from becoming a serious stress for the user, manufacturers have invented new devices. One such solution was the Mouse Tablet kit (model MT-604C) from WinPal Electronics. It included a graphics tablet, an electronic pen, and a three-button, ballless mouse. Note that the kit consumed impressive amounts of power during use, and the Mouse Tablet comes with an impressive package of drivers and software. Changing the active device (that is, switching from the pen to the mouse and vice versa) was carried out by pressing any button of the corresponding manipulator. Say, when you press the tip of the pen, the pen becomes active; the same effect is achieved by pressing the left mouse button. The graphic tablet and pen could work in both direct interaction with the monitor screen (absolute coordinator) and indirect (relative). The Mouse Tablet driver menu also allowed you to calibrate the pen and mouse, set the area of \u200b\u200bthe working surface and adjust the pen-mouse according to the user's preferences.
Significant disadvantages of the device were: 1. Due to the use of electromagnetic technology in the Mouse Tablet, the tablet could be affected by interference from other elements of the computer (for example, a monitor). In addition, he could not stand temperatures above 40 ° C, so a cup of hot coffee on the table could easily be "fatal" for him. Another serious drawback: incompatibility with standard manipulators supported by Windows: if you entered safe mode, the Mouse Tablet stopped functioning, and, moreover, it could drag the keyboard along, which significantly slowed down the process of work.
Technologies of our days
With regard to modern technologies, we note that recently users prefer touch screensdesigned specifically to reduce the size of the PDA. They can be found in pocket computers, smartphones, Tablet PCs, and all kinds of terminals. One of the main disadvantages of touchpads has always been the lack of tactile feedback, making them impossible to use blindly. However, the US company Immersion has come up with a way out and developed TouchSense, which adds a feedback function to sensitive screens, first shown on a 19-inch screen in 2005, and its long-awaited transfer to mobile devices is planned for 2010-2011.
The touch screen is often operated using stylus, a device made in the form of a small thin pen with a special tip. The ancestor of the stylus is light pen (English light pen).
Outwardly, the device looked like a ballpoint pen or pencil, connected by a wire to one of the computer's I / O ports. Typically, a light pen had one or more buttons that were pressed by the hand holding the pen. Data entry with a light pen was carried out by drawing lines with a pen on the surface of the monitor screen. A photocell was installed in the pen tip, which registered the change in screen brightness at the point where the pen touched, due to which the corresponding software calculated the position "indicated" by the pen on the screen. The buttons on the pen were used similarly to the buttons on a mouse - to perform additional operations and enable additional modes.
Thanks to touch screens, technology has developed multitouch (eng. multi-touch) is a function of touch input systems that simultaneously determine the coordinates of two or more touch points. Multi-touch screens allow several users to work with the device simultaneously, as well as determine the coordinates of touch points with maximum accuracy. Correct recognition of all touch points increases the capabilities of the touch input system interface. The most popular forms of multitouch devices are mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), multitouch tables (ex: Microsoft Surface), and multitouch walls.
The use of technology began with touchscreens to control electronic devices. The creators of the first synthesizers and electronic instruments, Hugh Le Caine and Bob Moog experimented with the use of capacitive touch sensors to control the sounds made by their instruments.
A multi-touch table is a pedestal with a glass surface-table top, which serves as a screen for a projector located at its base, which can display various multimedia content: presentations, videos, slideshows. Communication between the user and the system is provided by an interactive film (touch screen) glued to the glass surface, and with the help of special software, it allows you to manage content.
In contrast to touch screens, a multi-touch table gives wider and more flexible control over objects: the user can use multi-touch functions, as well as change multimedia objects, for example, zoom in, zoom out, rotate, and move images. Another advantage of multitouch tables is the ability for several users to work simultaneously within a single system, managing a large amount of information.
A separate group should include game manipulators... These include joysticks, gamepads, computer wheels and steering wheels, dance platforms, kinect, etc.
Interestingly, some modern game manipulators have a feedback effect (Force Feedback technology). The first such devices appeared in the 90s in the United States, when the Immersion company, having received an order from government agencies for the creation of a simulator for surgeons, decided to try to transfer one of the created technologies to the game space. The military became interested in the invention. Subsequently, the US Defense Department acquired a batch of new manipulators for training pilots. So in early 1996 Immersion released the first serial Force-FX joystick.
After that, an active mass production of game wheels, steering wheels, etc. began. Another interesting technology in the field of game manipulators has become gyroscopes, with the help of which it is possible to determine the change in the position of the joystick in space. Their mass adoption began with the next-generation Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 consoles.
An interesting modern input device is the Kinect (formerly Project Natal).
A controller-less game for the Xbox 360 is developed by Microsoft. Based on the addition of a peripheral to the Xbox 360 game console, Kinect allows the user to interact with it without the aid of a game controller through verbal commands, body postures, and displayed objects or drawings. The device was first presented on June 1, 2009 at E³, where Microsoft demonstrated several techniques for applying the technology: Ricochet - Breakout-like game that uses the whole body to hit balls to break blocks and Paint Party - in which the player can throw paint on the wall ... The player can choose the color by voice and use body poses to create stencils. Visually, the Kinect looks like this: it is a horizontally located box on a small round base, which is placed above or below the display. Its dimensions are approximately 23 cm long and 4 cm high.
The device consists of two depth sensors, a color video camera and a microphone array. Proprietary software provides full 3D recognition of body movements, facial expressions and voice. The microphone array allows the Xbox 360 to localize the sound source and suppress noise, allowing you to speak without headphones and an Xbox Live microphone. The depth sensor consists of an infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor, which allows the Kinect sensor to acquire a three-dimensional image in any natural light. The depth range and project program automatically calibrate the transducer based on playing and environmental conditions such as furniture in a room.
How manipulators will evolve in the near future - we can only speculate. In the near future, the systems for recognizing human speech by a computer will become perfect and almost all technical devices can be controlled by voice; it is possible that full-fledged tactile interfaces will appear, allowing, for example, gamers everything that happens to their hero during the game.
Neural interfaces are also being developed. Several cases are already known when people confined to a wheelchair agreed to participate in an experiment to implant a special implant into the brain, thanks to which they were able to control the cursor on the monitor screen exclusively with the help of the "power of thought." In general, the plot of the film "Surrogates" may soon come true.
However, I note that, as in life, innovations in working with manipulators are good only as long as the program runs like clockwork. The slightest malfunction in the operation of the operating system - and all non-standard devices with their proprietary drivers instantly "fly off", and an ordinary user will only have to admire the graphical interface, frantically remember (if he knows) "hot keys" and regret that he did not take an ordinary computer mouse.
All over the world, Douglas Engelbart is rightly considered the inventor of the computer manipulator or the first computer mouse. However, as with most inventions, it didn't come out of nowhere, and before the device that spawned the modern mouse was invented, there were already several such concepts, prototypes and fully functioning devices. So, if you are suddenly interested in the origins and history of this assistant in navigating your workspace, then you will find in this article a sufficient amount of information that may shed light on your questions.
First trackball
Tracing the history of the creation of a computer mouse, it is worth starting with one British engineer, whose invention was classified as a military secret and hidden from the public. This engineer was a professor Ralph Benjamin, who, while working in the science department of the British Navy, invented a device that functioned much like a trackball back in the mid 40s of the last century. According to a 2013 interview with Dr. Benjamin, he was tasked with helping develop a device called an Integrated Display System. It was an early version of a computer that was supposed to calculate the theoretical trajectory of a tracked aircraft based on user input.
The cursor on the screen was controlled by a simple joystick, which Benjamin believed could be greatly improved, and after some tweaking he came up with what he called “ roller ball". It functioned in much the same way as a standard mechanical mouse, with an outer ball manipulating two rubberized wheels on the inside for the X and Y axes. This movement was then translated into a corresponding cursor movement on the screen.
So why don't people believe that the professor invented the mouse? Besides the fact that Benjamin's device was not the progenitor of the modern computer mouse, it was rather its absolute opposite. After all, instead of moving the mouse using the friction of the ball on the working surface, you had to rotate the huge ball by hand. So it was more like a huge mechanical mouse turned inside out. And although Benjamin's device was more accurate than a joystick, it was never implemented, and due to the status of a military secret, the professor did not receive the attention he deserved for the invention of, in fact, the modern trackball. And even despite the innovative nature of the device, it remains an unknown figure in the history of computer technology.
Second attempt
A similar device to the previous one was developed independently of Benjamin's design in 1952 by Ferranti canada, commissioned by the Canadian Defense Research Council. The company, among other things, was tasked with creating an input device for computers with a budget of "near zero dollars." Three engineers working for Ferranti Fred Longstaff, Tom Cranston and Canyon Talor, came up with the idea of \u200b\u200busing a ball housed in a special casing that was constantly in contact with four wheels located around it. When the ball turned in a given direction, the movement of the wheels was translated into the corresponding movement of the cursor on the screen.
Simply put, it was an independent "four-wheeled" version of Dr. Benjamin's trackball. It's funny that for the sake of the low budget with which engineers had to work, they did not "reinvent the wheel". Instead of designing a trackball from scratch, they simply used a 16cm bowling ball. Well, due to the fact that the device was also developed for the military, it was covered with a veil of secrecy.
You see, Engelbart's mouse did not use a ball at all, instead two perpendicular wheels touched directly to control the position of the cursor. Despite the fact that the design of this device was quite functional, its disadvantage was that one wheel constantly partially scratched the surface of the table. However, let's not get ahead of the story.
Engelbart's device
Douglas Engelbart developed what is believed to be the direct ancestor of the modern mouse in the 1960s as part of a project to discover the most efficient way to interact with a computer. Engelbart believed that the existing devices in use at the time (mainly keyboards and joysticks) were ineffective. With the help of an engineer Bill English he developed a handheld device containing two perpendicular wheels controlled by a cursor. In fact, the principle of operation was the same as for the two previously mentioned trackball devices, but without the ball and in a much more convenient size for one-handed operation.
Engelbart conceived the concept of this device in 1961, and the first prototype was created by English already in 1964. Later, in 1966, Engelbart and English K. NASA requesting funding for a study to determine the most intuitive and efficient input device. The space agency agreed, after which a series of tests were carried out. The mouse turned out to be the most effective, which surprised many, even the creators, since it had not been tested at all before. And the very name "mouse" stuck to the device at an indeterminate moment during the tests. As Engelbart notes: "The reason for this was most likely the wire coming from the back of the structure."
At the Joint fall computer conference in San Francisco on December 9, 1968, Engelbart presented the mouse to more than a thousand computer engineers in one of the most influential computer presentations of all time, which also featured other now well-known developments such as hyperlinks, videos communication, remote access, etc.
Mechanical computer mouse and Xerox
Despite the mouse's public debut in front of the best minds in the world of computer technology, Angelbart's role and even the monumental presentation itself, which greatly influenced the coming decades of computer development, were largely forgotten. Like many other inventors before him, Engelbart did not receive much recognition. This is despite the fact that several years later English continued to develop a mechanical computer mouse that used a ball to control the position of the cursor, which would later become a common design for almost all mice, until the advent of optical ones.
Apart from gaining a little recognition, due to the fact that Engelbart and English worked at Stanford Research Institute when they developed the first mouse, the final patent that was granted for it in 1970 did not belong to them. Thus, the creators did not have the money and rights to invent it. The Stanford Research Institute reportedly made some money from the patent before it expired in 1984 when they licensed it to Apple.
By the way, speaking of Apple, the mouse as we know it today came to its final form largely thanks to Steve Jobs. When Jobs went to the research center, he was introduced to a prototype mechanical mouse invented by Bill English, who was now working on Xerox PARC... Jobs immediately saw the deep potential of the device. As it later turned out, Xerox had been selling their first Xerox Alto computer with this mouse since 1973 and later bundled it with Xerox 8010released in 1981.
However, the "top" of the company, apparently, did not correctly assess how innovative their system was. As Jobs points out, “If Xerox knew what they had, and took advantage of their real capabilities, they could be as big as I.B.M., Microsoft and Xerox themselves together - the largest high-tech company in the world. "
Apple Mouse
Jobs, overwhelmed by this lack of vision, heads back to Apple and forces his team to completely rethink the company's personal computer, radically changing their plans, introducing a window system with a mouse as a key component. According to Dean Howie, Jobs later explained to him, “The Xerox mouse is a $ 300 mouse and it breaks in two weeks. Our task is to make an analog for less than $ 15. At the same time, it should last at least a couple of years, and I want to use it both on laminate and on jeans. " Howie then explained that he bought all the roll-on deodorants (because of the balls themselves), as well as the oil can for the "shell." This was the beginning of Apple's mouse. As for why the mouse Apple had only one button, unlike other competitors (the Xerox mouse had three buttons), everything is as simple as possible. The company felt that it was a hassle to handle such an outlandish and new device at that time, so making it simple and convenient was a priority.
Apple's first appearance of a mouse was noted bundled with a controversial computer Apple lisa... This is the first Apple mouse to feature a steel ball to control the inner positioning wheels. As a consequence, the design was once again redesigned (with the replacement rubber ball) for the more popular Apple Macintosh, released in 1984, which was one of the first commercially successful devices to use a mouse. Microsoft also released its own mouse in 1983 for the PC, between the Apple Lisa and the much more famous Macintosh 128K, but it was the latter that subsequently stimulated wider adoption of the mouse.
Following the success of the Macintosh, other companies followed suit, and the mouse became a staple addition to every personal computer. Despite many predictions at different times that the mouse will follow the path of cassettes and push-button mobile phones, they are still popular and take on various forms and types to provide the greatest convenience and comfort when interacting with a computer.
Optical mouse
The optical mouse was developed around 1980, finally getting rid of the ball, which often got dirty from rolling on the desktop surface, which naturally had a negative effect on mouse performance. In 1988, a patent was issued for an optical mouse invented by Lisa M. Williams and Robert S. Cherry to be sold commercially with Xerox products such as Xerox STAR... The cost of manufacturing one mouse was $ 17, and they went on sale for $ 35. Despite this, it wasn't until 1998 that optical mice became a commercially viable alternative to mechanical mice and hit the mainstream consumer market. This has been achieved by increasing the processing power of microcontrollers and reducing component costs.
And from that moment on, the market for controllers and manipulators began to develop at a rapid pace, as well as other areas of technology and electronics. In 2004, the first laser mouse appeared, later in 2010, devices such as the first 3-D mouse were introduced, which allowed the cursor to be freely positioned in volumetric space, as well as Microsoft Kinectwhich is a gesture reader. Returning specifically to computer mice, we once again remind you that the modern market is full of a variety of wired, wireless, gaming and other models. You can familiarize yourself with the ratings of current innovations in this area on our website.