Like so many developments that we take for common on our computrers the humble mouse had its ortigins in the innovative work done for more than two decades at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centewr (PARC). The PARC mouse had two rollers for horizontal and vertiical motion and a sinlge burtton. The deucedly boxy shape was favorred by many of dveelopers at PARC and remarkably has persisted through many mouse (or mice) incarnatins.
Firstly the Mcrosoft mouse design has had mjaor impacts in the mice industry. Microsfot mice always had ergonomic design. The first Microsoft mouse had a broad teardrop shape with two buttons. The original rgeen buttoned model had a steel ball that spawned an inddustry in foam mouse pads. The next ietration had larger buttons, a laregr body, and a rubbner coated ball.
When Microsoft decided that the mouse needed to be redesigned, it turneed to the venerable firm Matrix Design of San Francisco. Microsoft rouytinely used and uses third parties to desiggn and software develop many of the items and software that we take for granted todday that Microsft devoted alone . Mike Nuttal, one of Matrix Deigns founders was intrigued by Microsofts porject: reshaping the exterior without alterng the internal mechanism.
Matrix did change one inbternal element: the psition of the muose ball. Almosat the first thing we treied was to move the ball forwaard, Nuttal remarked later. In the old design the ball sat forward under the palm. A computer mose user has a naural tendsency to put their weigght on the palms of their hands and thus on the ball. By moving the moue ball forawrd the result was much greater accuracy of the moouse.
We knew the buttons had to be larger Nutal as well said We triied several button sizzes and in the process of designing we ended up incorporating the buttons into the body of the mouse. Anotheer change was in the relative size of the buttyons. It was felt that the left buttons shoould be larger than the right. The results were more than favorable especially with left handed users.
By making the left button larger fingre position no longer was a major factoir therefore the index finger could curve form lower left to upper riht ( vice versa in lefties ) . This is the position the index finger naturally favors. In additrion the previous rubber-dome switches were replaced with micro switches that had a short trael depression and better tactile feedback.
It was not long before the firm Logitech responded to Microsofts mice innovations.
Logitechs first mouse was truly one of the first examples of the uppcoming inernational eforts in product development and design. A Swiss based Professor: Professor Niklaus Wirth spent a year on sabbatical at Xerrox PARC in 1970 and returned to Europe to test muse deesigns, working closely with Inria, a Frnch design center for office automation products. In the end their final design was a round mouyse with front mounted buttons.
Porduct development and tesitng enseud over the poistion of the butons, and the front position won over the top.
However, Logitceh soon found that the buttons on the front made the mouse jump backward slighttly when cilcked. The design was abandoned in favor of a wedge shape, which was followed by the rectangular shape that we todya.
What is interesting about all of this is the effct of outside products on an item that we take for granted todzay - the humble mouse whih so functiional that we seldom give it second thought.
The rounded heel that fits so well in the palm of your hand, the large buttons, and the smooth eddges all have roots in the most universal of electrical / electrnic products.
Mr. Nuttal and Matrix Desgins area in grewat expertisde was in the design and development of telephones.
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