Why is a computer “mouse” called what it is?”
The name “mouse”, coined at the Stanford Research Institute, derives from the resemblance of early models (which had a cord attached to the rear part of the device, suggesting the idea of a tail) to the common small rodent of the same name. Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute invented the mouse in 1963 after extensive usability testing. Engelbart’s team called it a “bug” — one of several experimental pointing-devices developed for Engelbart’s oN-Line System (NLS). The other devices were designed to exploit other body movements — for example, head-mounted devices attached to the chin or nose — but ultimately the mouse won out because of its simplicity and convenience. The first mouse, a bulky device used two gear-wheels perpendicular to each other: the rotation of each wheel translated into motion along one axis. Engelbart received patent US3541541 on November 17, 1970 for an “X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System”. At the time, Engelbart envisaged that users woul
