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How technology has changed

The computer mouse ouse WHAT WAS IT?

Invented in 1964 at the Stanford Research Institute (known as Engelbart’s mouse, pictured), the mouse became familiar to the public in 1984 with the launch of the Apple Macintosh, the first popular computer based on a WIMP operating system. By the early 1990s, with the rise of Windows, a mouse was standard issue for every PC user.

HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED?

From 1968, mice were built around a rubberised ball, using rollers to translate its movement into digital signals. This tech was gradually pushed out by optical mice, which shine an LED or laser light on to the desk and detect what bounces back to calculate movement.

The Macintosh mouse had only one button, while Windows settled on two. Later, a scroll wheel was added. In 2009, Apple’s Magic Mouse introduced a multi-touch surface instead, allowing two-directional scrolling and gestures. It hasn’t caught on with PC users. Perhaps the biggest change to the mouse is that most are now wireless, removing the ‘tail’ that inspired the name.