The computer mouse turns 40 - but should it retire?From Times Online
December 8, 2008
The computer mouse, arguably the single most important consumer gadget of the digital era, marks its 40th birthday on Tuesday. While the device has advanced from its original form of a wooden block with wheels on it and a chord coming out the back, the middle-age milestone celebrations will be overshadowed by arguments over which new technology is about to make it redundant.
The mouse was first introduced to the public on December 9, 1968, at a demonstration of interactive computing conducted by Dr Douglas Engelbart in California, an event now acknowledged as "the mother of all demos".
On that day, at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, Dr Engelbart and his team from Stanford Research International's Augmentation Research Center used numerous - and now ubiquitous - innovations, including multiple windows, real-time on-screen text editing and hypertext links.
But the demo is remembered chiefly for the first public appearance of the humble computer mouse. With his right hand Dr Engelbart moved a device to direct the cursor on the screen in a manner familiar to millions of personal computer users today.
The first such device, a wooden block with two wheels under it and a cord coming out of the back, had actually been invented three years before. The team dubbed it a "mouse" because the wire looked like the device's tail. The name stuck.Those first computer mice (or mouses, both are considered correct) were built by engineer Bill English. Now 79 and living in Marin County, California, he told The Times that the team knew that what they were doing was an important step for computing. "But at the end of the demonstration, there was dead silence and then everyone stood and applauded," he said. "That was when we knew that we had achieved something special."
Dr Engelbart had started making notes for the mouse in 1961, after deciding to improve on the light pens in use on radar systems. Mr English devised a series of tests to reveal the best method of imputing data and interacting with the new workstation computers that the team were developing. He tested light pens and joysticks among other devices but in every test, the computer mouse or "x-y positioning device" came out on top. He said: "The mouse is intuitive to use. It is easy to grasp, much easier than a pen, and it conveys what you want on the screen with great accuracy."
Mr English later went to Xerox which he helped develop the trackball mouse during the 1970s. The company launched the first commercial mouse in 1981 with the Xerox Star computer system. But the mouse did not really take off until Apple bought the mouse patent for its Macintosh computers in 1984. The mouse went mass market when it was chosen by Microsoft for its Windows operating system and it has become as much a part of computing as the qwerty keyboard.
But there is mounting evidence that even as it reaches middle age, the mouse is ready for retirement. Various technologies are racing to replace it, chief among them touch screens and touchpads. Most laptops have a touchpad to move the cursor around the screen, others use a "nub" or mini trackball, a small sensor that can be manipulated with a finger or thumb.
Touch screen interfaces are on the rise. Apple's iconic iPhone has caught the public imagination and shown that touch screens can be intuitive and accurate. The first touch screen personal computers are on their way, led by Hewlett-Packard's TouchSmart PC. Microsoft has spent millions of dollars in its coffee table "Surface" computer which responds to touch and natural hand gestures. However, for some, touch can be too clumsy - the human finger is an imperfect stylus. Virtual keyboards in the iPhone and the new Blackberry Storm smartphone have not been met with universal acclaim.
The idea of using the human mind to control a computer may sound like science fiction but there are advances in this field which suggest it may be possible. One disabled man has had a tiny chip embedded into his head by scientists at Brown University in the US which read electrical patterns that allowed him to move a cursor. There are also companies developing headsets which allow players to control simple computer games using just the power of thought.
Perhaps the most advanced contender to replace the mouse is motion detector technology, as seen in the movie Minority Report. The classic motion sensor detection is the accelerometer inside the wand remote controller for the best-selling Nintendo Wii, which allows users to play virtual tennis, golf or air guitar like a professional.
Other motion detection can be by three dimensional video cameras which track movement and translate it to the screen. Sensors can be added on gloves to increase precision.
There are even plans to have motion detection for mobile phones. A Nokia executive has revealed that the company is preparing to launch touch products that can detect motion just over the screen, rather than by direct contact.
John Underkoffler, the technology advisor for Minority Report whose company now makes one of the most advanced gesture detection systems, says that the mouse has had its day. "The mouse has had a good run but it's time to say goodbye."
But the problem for motion detection technology and in particular for gesture is that large movements, done repetitively, can be tiring.
Using a mouse takes little effort and, although there can be RSI problems, it remains a brilliantly efficient method of interacting with a computer.
Mr English said: "The mouse is a simple, intuitive and cheap way to move a cursor round a screen. It can't be replaced at a very low cost. It is going to be around for a very long time yet."
Today's mouse is likely to be optical, using a laser or LED to sense movement on a surface. Many now work wirelessly. Swiss company Logitech has just celebrated the manufacture of its one billionth mouse and expects to be making many more. Perhaps life does begin at 40.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article5305052.ece
