[BITList] Fwd: Of mice and men

[M.j. Feltham]

I certainly hope we will keep a Mouse !

Mike
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>  	Thursday, July 04, 2013
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>  	MATT
> WARMAN
> CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
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> Techbriefing
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> TALKING POINTS	 	 	 	 Follow Matt on Twitter
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>  	Doug Engelbart invented the computer mouse – his death comes on the cusp of the next interface revolution
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> In 1968 Doug Engelbart demonstrated the first computer mouse, controlling a primitive computer externally for the first time. Reports that his innovation was greeted with gasps are perhaps just as shocking as the fact that his patent lasted just 17 years, and without refining additional patents, the inventor never made a serious amount of money from the billions of mice sold subsequently. Even Apple, launching the first recognisable mouse in 1984, paid little homage.
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> Today, however, it seems unlikely Apple will ever make another mouse. Touchpads and touchscreens feel like the future, and Microsoft is now working on a 3D touchscreen that begins to offer something that feels like what you seem to be touching on that screen.
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> Google, meanwhile, is betting on voice recognition. So at the recent I/O conference, it was a demonstration of talking to a Chromebook that drew gasps and applause. “OK Google” may yet be the start to billions of ‘conversational searches’.
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> But there remains an advantage to Engelbart’s innovation - it doesn’t disrupt. It simply eases the interface between man and machine. While voice recognition may seem more natural, it’s also impossible to have a conversation with a computer and a co-worker (or a colleague, if you’re in Britain).
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> A cynic would argue Engelbart’s genius was to realise machines should serve man, while Google, at best, sees a sort of symbiotic relationship where computers predict what we want. This, in practice, is likely to be real progress for some. But we’re a long way off - Google, Apple’s Siri and other similar services still often mishear what we’re trying to say. The mouse, at least, went where it was supposed to. We may not see its like again.
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