Douglas Engelbart, inventor of the mouse

On December 9th, 1968, Douglas Engelbart presented a 90-minute live public demonstration at the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA which featured all of the following:

• The mouse
• WYSIWYG  – "What you see is what you get", referencing the way data looks on screen and the way it will look if printed.
• Slides – ala Powerpoint
• text and graphics displayed on a single screen
• shared-screen videoconferencing – the ability for one user to share his computer screen with another user in real time.
• outlining
• windows – those things we drag and drop around on our computer screens
• version control – the ability to maintain older copies of a document, so if you need to, you can go back to an older copy
• context-sensitive help
• the hyperlink – without this, there wouldn't be a web browser!

Engelbarts presentation demonstrated "augmented intellect", which he felt was a way to use technology to assist humans in learning and working.  In other words, using the power of a computer to help humans do every day tasks, like organize information.

Engelbarts data entry devices, including the first ever mouse.

Engelbart's mouse implementation was a two handed device, with the first device being that thing that we now call a "mouse":

The worlds first mouse, invented by Douglas Engelbart

Douglas Engelbarts "mouse", from the bottom

In addition to the standard keyboard for issuing commands to the computer, there was a third device, called the "chord keyboard":

Douglas Engelbart's "chord keyboard"

The chord keyboard should look familiar to anyone having played the piano, as the concept is similar.  In addition to giving commands using a combination of the mouse and keyboard, the user could use the chord keyboard in conjunction with the mouse to alter the behavior of the mouse action.

A light pen was also used to demonstrate interaction with the display terminal.

Douglas Engelbart, during the "mother of all demos"

One other major innovation that we can see clearly today, was the use of a monitor to allow the user to interact with the computer.

Today, we take for granted that a monitor is used to interact with and use a computer.  But, back in Engelbarts day, computers were only used by corporations and government agencies.  They were big, and  expensive, and required extensive training to operate.  Most of the interaction with a computer was conducted through a teletype machine, which resembles a printer with a typewriter attached.

Having been a radio technician in the military during World War II, Engelbart was used to using devices with electronic displays, and didn't understand why computers didn't have them.  He always was trying to create ways to make computers more useful.  He wanted to see many people using computers, for normal, ordinary tasks, and the lack of a display was one thing he felt would immediately make them easier to use.

Druing the demo, Engelbart demonstrated for the first time, a computer display.  It was created with the same sort of electronic display that radio and radar operators would be used to seeing:

Engelbart's Workstation 1966 - Keyset, keyboard, monitor, mouse

This was a vision of the future, as it wouldn't be until 1984, and the release of the Apple Mac, that all of these devices would converge together into what we now know as the personal computer.

Here is a small sample of "the mother of all demos":

For more information:

• Internet Pioneers
• December 9, 1968 The Demo
• Douglas Engelbart's wikipedia entry
• Who Invented the computer mouse?