December 31, 2008 by James Oliver
According to mouse manufacturer Logitech, they have this week shipped their billionth mouse, just before the forty year anniversary of the device’s existence at the end of December.
It is a huge coincidence and may well have been massaged by the Logitech PRs, even so the number is roughly right and shows a huge achievement both in terms of the proliferation of the personal computer and for Logitech itself. To put it in perspective, it is thought that there are now only slightly fewer computer mouses (yes that is the plural form, trust me) than there are actual rodent mice in the world.
The significance of the mouse to computing cannot be overestimated. It drastically simplified the interface between user and OS, making it possible to use a computer without having to be an expert in computing. The first one was a wooden block, showed off to peers by Douglas Englebert at Stanford University in 1968 at a time where nobody really knew how big an invention it would turn out to be.
The future of the device may be in doubt, with the proliferation of things like touch screen technology. Still, it’s a hell of an achievement. Happy birthday mouse!
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