Cool toys and Gadgets

Section: Peripherals, Mice / Keyboards

Yesterday I talked about the keyboard and how it is rooted in the history of computers, but this week is also important for another input device: the mouse.  The 40th birthday of the mouse also coincided with history being made, as Logitech announced that they had shipped a billion mouses (or mice) since they started production.  But how did it start, why is it so good and what is the future of the mouse?  Read on.
The first “mouse” was invented by Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute as a prototype for a way of manipulating a GUI.  It was one of many suggestions (including using the head) for how to control the computer.  The mouse won because of its accuracy, ease of use, and the fact that it did not cause too much inconvenience to use.  No one is quite sure who first coined the name “mouse” and it was only intended for use as a nickname and not as an actual product name, but the wire/tail resemblance is definitely there and so the name as well as its plural problems stuck.
Since then we’ve had the horrid ball mouse which was an improvement on the two external wheels that the original had, to a ball controlling two small interior wheels, and then onto the optical and laser versions that we use today.  This has meant that mice are now more accurate and easy to use than ever before, and as science and medicine come to rely upon computers more and more this is increasingly important.
However the fact that the mouse has lasted four decades is not the only amazing thing, the fact that Logitech has shipped 1 billion is also amazing when you think about it.  I’m not sure that there is any other product that a single company has consistently sold for this period of time, and managed to rack up 1 billion of them.  This really is an astonishing number for one company, and it goes a long way not only to showing the popularity of the mouse, but how big the computer world is.

“It speaks volumes to the success of the mouse that they (Logitech) have produced a billion and good luck. But past performance is not a guarantee of future success.  The world has changed and the nature of machines has changed.  The multi-touch interface I believe really does seal the coffin of the mouse,“ Gartner analyst Steve Prentice

This is perhaps a little presumptuous, touchscreens have never taken off in the home computer world in the past, but is this now the time for the mouse to hand over the baton?  There are many advantages for using touch screens.  With multi-touch, they are now much more versatile.  Advances in technology have allowed them to become more accurate, but there are still problems and many cynics believe this is just an excuse to drum up interest in Windows 7 and associated touchscreen products.

So please, sit back, and celebrate the wonderful product of design and manufacture that is your mouse, take a moment to be amazed by how big this little product actually is and think about what will happen in the future.  And then sing happy birthday to it, have a party or maybe even bake a cake… I know I have! (there is a virtual prize if you know where this is from!)

Source [BBC]

Full Story » | Written by Christian Milsom for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »