Computer Mouse turns 40, The

From the halls of a university research lab to the desks of hundreds of millions of computer users, the computer mouse has come a long way. Douglas Engelbart created the first prototypes of the now-familiar device in 1963 at Stanford Research Institute, but he first displayed his creation to the public in 1968 forty years ago Tuesday. During that unveiling, Engelbart presented what some have called “the mother of all demos,” outlining concepts that would presage the next 40 years of computing, including the use of a three-button palm-sized contraption called a “mouse.”