Adoption

In 1968 during the Fall Joint Computer Conference held in San Francisco, Douglas Engelbart and his associates from the Stanford Research Center conducted a 90 minute  presentation to 1,000 or so computer professionals. 1  The presentation was meant to demonstrate their “oNLine system”. 2 This demo is now referred to as the “Mother of All Demos”. The demonstration of their work changed how people viewed the computer and what the computer could do. It showed that the computer was more than a giant calculator.  During this demonstration Douglas Engelbart and his team also presented a number of other innovations, one of which was the computer mouse 3

The computer mouse presented during this presentation consisted of a plastic casing on a metal base and had three buttons. The cord on the mouse was also shifted from the top of the mouse to the bottom of the mouse. 4

  1. Brown, David. Inventing Modern America: from the Microwave to the Mouse. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002. p162. ↩
  2. ibid p162. ↩
  3. Engelbart, Doug. “Doug Engelbart 1968 Demo,” December 9, 1968. http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html. ↩
  4. Engelbart, Doug. “Design Considerations for Knowledge Workshop Terminals – 1973 (AUGMENT, 14851,) – Doug Engelbart Institute,” March 14, 1973. http://www.dougengelbart.org/pubs/augment-14851.html. ↩

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