Whenever I see comments about Engelbart and co focusing on their invention of the mouse, I'm reminded of a tribute[0] Bret Victor wrote about Engelbart after hi

Whenever I see comments about Engelbart and co focusing on their invention of the mouse, I'm reminded of a tribute[0] Bret Victor wrote about Engelbart after his passing. The NYTimes headline for Engelbart's obituary read "Douglas C. Engelbart, Inventor of the Computer Mouse, Dies at 88". In response, Victor writes, "This is as if you found the person who invented writing, and credited them for inventing the pencil." That is to say: English, Engelbart, and the other folks working on NLS had a much larger goal: augmenting human intellect. The mouse (along with the chorded keyboard and other mechanisms for interaction) was one component of that. An important one, but one nonetheless. It has been transformative, yes. But perhaps the most important aspect of the legacy of Bill English and his colleagues is not in what they built, in what they shipped, but rather in what their goals were. I highly recommend reading Bret Victor's piece (as well as his other writings). There's also a really solid book on the era in which NLS was created, the ups and downs of building (and funding) it, and its impact. It's called _What the Dormouse Said_ [1] by John Markoff. [0] http://worrydream.com/#!/Engelbart http://worrydream.com/#!/Engelbart [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said