We don't marvel anymore at using a mouse to trigger a hyperlink in a windows open in our PC ? What about video conferencing, collaborative editing ?  Do we ? We take all that for granted. 

A tweet from DARPA that I found on my timeline, reminds us that the story started on a 9th of December. In 1968, on this date, an engineer at Stanford, Douglas Engelbart, presented a visionary demonstration of a computer system integrating all the elements that we can find in a personal computer today.  That was the symbolic start, in a way, of what has become a major remodelling of our societies.  As important as Gutenberg's printing press in the 15th century.

Who heard of the The Mother of All Demos in 68 ? Not me. I was 19 yo and I had to wait 13 more years to get my fist PC 😉 and a couple more to add a mouse to it. 

 

 

It figures that it was funded by the Air Force... Flight simming is obviously an elaborate prank. I get it now... Gen.Yeager is having a drink with Pancho Barnes on cloud nine, and he`s 'a grinnin'.  

Edited December 9, 20205 yr by CYXR

After looking at the wiki link - I think I need a replica of that first mouse!  

I remember the first mouse I saw. It was Apple, of course. How weird, but intriguing!

Greatest Demo Ever

12 hours ago, CYXR said:

It figures that it was funded by the Air Force... Flight simming is obviously an elaborate prank. I get it now... Gen.Yeager is having a drink with Pancho Barnes on cloud nine, and he`s 'a grinnin'.  

Joke aside, not so many people are aware that the industrial military complex has been indeed the main starting engine of the IT revolution, from the micro-processor to the Internet.  When I was in the Bay Area in the 90s, the military and NASA were the largest employer in the Silicon Valley.