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"Consider that Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse in 1964. It was obvious to many people that it was a better way to control a computer, yet it took two decad

"Consider that Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse in 1964. It was obvious to many people that it was a better way to control a computer, yet it took two decades even to begin reaching a mass audience. Or consider the hyperlink, invented independently by Mr. Engelbart and the computing evangelist Ted Nelson in the mid-1960s. It took roughly three decades to reach the public in the form of the World Wide Web." These examples are starting to wear thin. It took three decades for computers to become accessible enough, financially, for these things to even make sense to offer to the masses, and it required a critical mass of users to make sense to start doing business over the Internet. A wikipedia that no one could edit or an Amazon that no one bought anything on because they didn't have a computer in their home would be quite lame indeed. The invention of the printing press didn't make everyone literate overnight; the 30 years it took for the mouse to enter widespread adoption is nothing.

BrandonM 18y ago
That's not to mention that it's not "obvious" to me that a mouse is a better way to control a computer. If I had to construct a "find" query using a point-and-click interface, I would be highly annoyed. I use keyboard macros on GMail so that I can do everything without touching the mouse, and I get really annoyed when the page loses focus and I have to click inside it to restore it. So not only does acceptance take time and require good timing, but it may also be that something that is "obviously" better may just seem obviously better to you.
- thwarted 18y ago
  Or obviously better in retrospect. I'm with you on the keyboard. It's substantially easier to process large amounts of data with a UNIX pipeline or an SQL query than it is with many GUI tools. Many people don't realize that.
- parenthesis 18y ago
  A good (standardised, consistent) mouse-driven interface means one can use an unfamiliar program without reading any documentation first. This, I think, explains the popularity of the mouse (along with its low cost relative to touch-screens and other similar input devices). But giving a program input in this way can be very slow. The experienced user can't get much faster than the novice. A mouse, of course, is a good input method when it makes sense for gestures in 2 dimensions to control something. (Hmm, that is rather tautologous.) E.g. drawing (but then a graphics tablet is probably better for this, but more expensive). With a text-based interface, one must read and learn before one can use an unfamiliar program. But giving the program input can then typically be much faster, and the program can be easily scriptable.

BrandonM 18y ago

That's not to mention that it's not "obvious" to me that a mouse is a better way to control a computer. If I had to construct a "find" query using a point-and-click interface, I would be highly annoyed. I use keyboard macros on GMail so that I can do everything without touching the mouse, and I get really annoyed when the page loses focus and I have to click inside it to restore it. So not only does acceptance take time and require good timing, but it may also be that something that is "obviously" better may just seem obviously better to you.

thwarted 18y ago
Or obviously better in retrospect. I'm with you on the keyboard. It's substantially easier to process large amounts of data with a UNIX pipeline or an SQL query than it is with many GUI tools. Many people don't realize that.
parenthesis 18y ago
A good (standardised, consistent) mouse-driven interface means one can use an unfamiliar program without reading any documentation first. This, I think, explains the popularity of the mouse (along with its low cost relative to touch-screens and other similar input devices). But giving a program input in this way can be very slow. The experienced user can't get much faster than the novice. A mouse, of course, is a good input method when it makes sense for gestures in 2 dimensions to control something. (Hmm, that is rather tautologous.) E.g. drawing (but then a graphics tablet is probably better for this, but more expensive). With a text-based interface, one must read and learn before one can use an unfamiliar program. But giving the program input can then typically be much faster, and the program can be easily scriptable.