On November 17, 1970, the first patent was granted for the device that is perhaps the most used every day: the computer mouse. So exactly fifty years ago. And it looks like the mouse will stay with us for decades to come, in one form or another.
Douglas Engelbart presented a working example for the first time at the end of 1968: a device with three buttons and two wheels. The patent took another two years, the breakthrough much longer. The invention ended up with computer manufacturer Xerox, who supplied the mouse to the very expensive ‘Star’ computer that never reached the general public.
Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, saw the potential of the mouse and delivered it with the first Macintosh computer in 1984; a compact variant with one button. From then on, the mouse was indispensable in the PC.
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