The first computer mouse (2017)

Less well remembered is the companion device, seen in a few of the pictures, with 5 piano-like keys for your left hand to rest on. The idea was that you could “play” 31 different “chords” instead of typing on a keyboard (with some sort of “shift” chord to get numerals and punctuation; or maybe a foot-pedal?).

The huge advantage was that you never had to move your hands between the mouse and keyboard, and have to re-find the home row, etc. I saw a number of people actually using this system, including support staff, during a visit to SRI around 1980.

Speed and accuracy were reportedly stellar; the downfall, evidently, was that everyone developed Repetitive Stress Injury from chording (before RSI was even a thing).

The first computer mouse was not invented by Douglas Engelbart, but by the German corporation Telefunken:

Auf den Spuren der deutschen Computermaus

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Auf-den-Spuren-der-d...

"Rollkugel": Erfinder gibt allererste PC-Maus nach Paderborn

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Rollkugel-Erfinder-g...

Google Translate to English:

On the trail of the German computer mouse

https://www-heise-de.translate.goog/newsticker/meldung/Auf-d...

"Rollkugel [Rolling Sphere]": Inventor gives the very first PC mouse to Paderborn

https://www-heise-de.translate.goog/newsticker/meldung/Rollk...

> It is interesting, that the inventor of one of the most popular computer interface devices ever in the world didn’t received any royalties for his mouse invention. As he received the patent as an assignor of SRI, SRI licensed it to Apple for something like $40000, which was ridiculous. Engelbart received nothing!

Are they implying Engelbart (who was a founder of a department at SRI) did unpaid work and did not get compensated with wages or similar while working?

Stanford Research Institute is also as I understand it a non-profit, so I would expect most proceeds to go back to the institute rather than being extracted from it.

Anyone else thinks computer mouse is actually a dumb invention? I mean the fact that you have to operate it with your entire arm, and it takes as much space as another keyboard.

Flip it upside down and you have the track ball, makes way more sense.

> His version of windows and GUI was not considered patentable (no software patents were issued at that time),

And we can thank the stars for that.