The Mouse
The mouse is a device that translates movements on a horizontal surface into movements of a pointer on the computer screen. While the keyboard is, by far, the most important input device attached to your computer, the mouse runs a close second, and may be the most used. 

The mouse's popularity is due, of course, to the popularity of the graphical user interface (GUI). The first mouse was developed in the mid '60s. Looking back at the early computer interfaces, and even the physical number of computers in the '60s and '70s (or lack of numbers), it's obvious that the mouse was an animal before its time. When IBM's Personal Computers hit the market in the early '80s, with the DOS command line interface, more and more people found it possible to have a computer in their home. With the introduction of menu-driven programs, the mouse began to see limited use. When the Mac GUI OS was introduced, the mouse was recognized as a valuable tool by Macintosh users, but when Microsoft mass-marketed its Windows Operating system, the mouse truly became a household word.

I've got to admit, when I first saw a GUI (Graphical User Interface), I wasn't all that impressed. I thought it seemed a little mickey-mouse-like and made the computer look more like a toy than the high-tech, effective tool that I knew it to be. When I look back at it now, I think it was more the fact that I might have felt a little cheated. It took so much time and energy to master the computer, and now it appeared as though everyone was going to be able to use a device that, up to that point, had been the semi-private realm of the techie, DOS savvy minority. And actually, that's exactly what happened. The GUI and the mouse are probably the two most important factors leading to the household personal computer being second in popularity only to the television set. (Not to mention constantly improving, lightning fast technological advancements and intelligent, aggressive push-marketing.)

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