Would we have been better off if he invented a multi-touch display, like the iPhone has?
PS: (Laughs). His researchers invented a whole bunch of interaction devices. They had one that looked like an arm on a pivot, with a vertical access and the arm slides through it, so that it slides and swings in and out. It pivots. Like a pantograph arm. They played with track balls. They had mice with different kinds of buttons. They found that the mouse stuck. My recollection is the first commercial touch screen was created by Hewlett-Packard in the 1980s. We had the equivalent of touch with light pens, like with the original Sage Terminals. That had a built-in ash tray. And the light pen looked like a Buck Rogers ray gun. The mouse and the touch screen do very different functions. The disadvantage of a touch screen is it is not good for long amounts of interaction. Hold your arm out straight and see how long it takes before you get tired. The mouse uses only the muscles above the wrist. You don’t carry as much weight on your arm. VB: What should visionaries be working on today? PS:
