On our side of the globe the invention of the computer mouse is attributed to Douglas Engelbart who to this day is still being awarded patents and who recently created an iPhone app version of another one of his inventions - the chorded keyboard.
Engelbart funnily enough pitched his work as a push to "change the world" and augment human intellect (as outlined in his 2008 book Evolving Collective Intelligence) - I'd say he's done a pretty good job.
On preparation for this post I stumbled upon an interesting post by Derek Sivers which explained the relationship between ideas and their executions as a matter of multipliers, here's how he explained it:
"AWFUL IDEA = -1
WEAK IDEA = 1
SO-SO IDEA = 5
GOOD IDEA = 10
GREAT IDEA = 15
BRILLIANT IDEA = 20
NO EXECUTION = $1
WEAK EXECUTION = $1000
SO-SO- EXECUTION = $10,000
GOOD EXECUTION = $100,000
GREAT EXECUTION = $1,000,000
BRILLIANT EXECUTION = $10,000,000
To make a business, you need to multiply the two."
I don't know if i agree with the direct mathematics of the explanation but I certainly agree with the interrelated format.
As a side note, I feel for this project I invested time and energy into cementing a good idea but I'm yet to hit the big bucks in terms of execution.
Anyway, back to computers. I feel that the core of the idea to interact with a computing device through basic directional analogies (i.e. as it stands now up, down, left and right) is in fact a good one; gone are the days that we lowly personal computer sit there scratching our heads in front of a flashing MS-DOS or UNIX command line. The interesting thing to note here is that despite the fact that mouses are an incredibly widely used interface they may not in fact be the best way to get your thoughts through your hand and onto the screen (or purely thoughts onto the screen but ill give it a few years yet). This idea does not usually bode well with a fair majority of computer users and it's easy to see that Engelbart has indeed changed our collective intelligence however over the last few years we have seen a shift that has been brewing for over a decade now the all knowing and all seeing touch (and lets not forget multitouch) interface. An early computer that sought to strip the mouse execution from directional interaction idea was actually the 20th anniversary Macintosh. My Dad used one of these as his work computer back in the day and for any of you Seinfeld nut out there one of these appeared on his desk without a mention during season 9. This machine was a strange one; it sported a Bose speaker system, a beefy 97 meg hard drive a 200 meg optical disc to teach you how to use the detachable TRACKPAD?! on a desktop?!
I have since dug up said disc and it really does tell the story that Apple was trying to push of refreshing execution. As another side note Apple was also the first personal computer manufacturer to include a mouse - sure, it had one button but still.
Apple realised the imperfection in the market (one which they created) and sought to fix it and now the majority other unit sales have a touch interface with peripherals available for those who don't.
Two wheels to ball to optical to touch - a truly brilliant idea never dies while it is continuously refreshed in new and exciting ways.
-Tahl
Links:
Strangely formatted bit on Engelbart: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/compmouse.htm
A nice evolution of the mouse article: http://weburbanist.com/2009/04/05/evolution-of-the-mouse-classic-to-cutting-edge/
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