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PARC (Palo Alto Research Center; formerly Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California.
Founded in 1969 by Jacob E. Jack Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, the company was originally a division of Xerox, tasked with creating computer technology-related products and hardware systems.
Xerox PARC has been at the heart of numerous revolutionary computer developments, including laser printing, Ethernet, the modern personal computer, graphical user interface (GUI) and desktop paradigm, object-oriented programming, ubiquitous computing, electronic paper, amorphous silicon (a-Si) applications, the computer mouse, and very-large-scale integration (VLSI) for semiconductors.
A computer mouse is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface.
This motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows a smooth control of the graphical user interface of a computer.
The first public demonstration of a mouse controlling a computer system was in 1968. Mice originally used two separate wheels to track movement across a surface: one in the X-dimension and one in the Y.
Later, the standard design shifted to utilize a ball rolling on a surface to detect motion. Most modern mice use optical sensors that have no moving parts. Though originally all mice were connected to a computer by a cable, many modern mice are cordless, relying on short-range radio communication with the connected system.
In addition to moving a cursor, computer mice have one or more buttons to allow operations such as the selection of a menu item on a display. Mice often also feature other elements, such as touch surfaces and scroll wheels, which enable additional control and dimensional input.
The earliest known written use of the term mouse in reference to a computer pointing device is in Bill English's July 1965 publication, Computer-Aided Display Control, likely originating from its resemblance to the shape and size of a mouse, a rodent, with the cord resembling its tail. The popularity of wireless mice without cords makes the resemblance less obvious.
More information: Objective
According to Roger Bates, a hardware designer under English, the term also came about because the cursor on the screen was for some unknown reason referred to as CAT and was seen by the team as if it would be chasing the new desktop device.
The plural for the small rodent is always mice in modern usage. The plural for a computer mouse is either mice or mouses according to most dictionaries, with mice being more common.
The first recorded plural usage is mice; the online Oxford Dictionaries cites a 1984 use, and earlier uses include J. C. R. Licklider's The Computer as a Communication Device of 1968.
Other uses of the mouse's input occur commonly in special application domains. In interactive three-dimensional graphics, the mouse's motion often translates directly into changes in the virtual objects' or camera's orientation. For example, in the first-person shooter genre of games, players usually employ the mouse to control the direction in which the virtual player's head faces: moving the mouse up will cause the player to look up, revealing the view above the player's head. A related function makes an image of an object rotate so that all sides can be examined.
3D design and animation software often modally chord many different combinations to allow objects and cameras to be rotated and moved through space with the few axes of movement mice can detect.
When mice have more than one button, the software may assign different functions to each button.
Often, the primary (leftmost in a right-handed configuration) button on the mouse will select items, and the secondary (rightmost in a right-handed) button will bring up a menu of alternative actions applicable to that item.
More information: Wired
and saw computers running the first operating system
that used Windows and a mouse,
he assumed he was looking at a new way
to work a personal computer.
He brought the concept back
to Cupertino and created the Mac,
then Bill Gates followed suit,
and the rest is history.
Douglas Rushkoff
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