[TUHS] in memoriam - Bill English, mouse co-creator

[TUHS] in memoriam - Bill English, mouse co-creator

[Will Senn]

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All,

About a week ago, Bill English passed away. He was a Xerox guy, who 
along with Douglas Engelbart of "Mother of all demos" fame, created our 
beloved mouse:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53638033

I remember, back in the mid-1980's being part of a focus group 
evaluating Microsoft's mouse. Wow, time flies.

-Will

-- 
GPG Fingerprint: 68F4 B3BD 1730 555A 4462  7D45 3EAA 5B6D A982 BAAF


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Re: [TUHS] in memoriam - Bill English, mouse co-creator

[Clem Cole]

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Thanks, Will. A mild sigh while reading it though because history seems to
often forget Jack Hawley's role.   Truth is he did not invent it, but he
>>is<< the one that made them and got people to use them (the Xerox Alto's
used a Hawley Mouse, DEC would use it, E&S used them etc.).  As this
article points out, he made about 80% of all the mice used in the 1970s:
https://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/hawley/  - certainly the first ones I used
at CMU before we got the Altos and then after the first Alto's appeared.

Tek's Magnolia used a flavor of the Hawley mouse in 1979 [the ones with
buttons horizontal/parallel to the 'body' - the original Alto mouse the
buttons were horizontal and colored), but I don't remember what 3Rivers
PascAlto used - I think so, but I don't remember.

On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 6:50 PM Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:

> All,
>
> About a week ago, Bill English passed away. He was a Xerox guy, who along
> with Douglas Engelbart of "Mother of all demos" fame, created our beloved
> mouse:
>
> https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53638033
>
> I remember, back in the mid-1980's being part of a focus group evaluating
> Microsoft's mouse. Wow, time flies.
>
> -Will
>
> --
> GPG Fingerprint: 68F4 B3BD 1730 555A 4462  7D45 3EAA 5B6D A982 BAAF
>
>

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Re: [TUHS] in memoriam - Bill English, mouse co-creator

[Earl Baugh]

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The Sun 1 also had a Hawley mouse ( as an early option ), before they switched to the optical. 

Earl 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 11, 2020, at 10:03 AM, Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Thanks, Will. A mild sigh while reading it though because history seems to often forget Jack Hawley's role.   Truth is he did not invent it, but he >>is<< the one that made them and got people to use them (the Xerox Alto's used a Hawley Mouse, DEC would use it, E&S used them etc.).  As this article points out, he made about 80% of all the mice used in the 1970s:  https://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/hawley/  - certainly the first ones I used at CMU before we got the Altos and then after the first Alto's appeared.   
> 
> Tek's Magnolia used a flavor of the Hawley mouse in 1979 [the ones with buttons horizontal/parallel to the 'body' - the original Alto mouse the buttons were horizontal and colored), but I don't remember what 3Rivers PascAlto used - I think so, but I don't remember.
> 
>> On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 6:50 PM Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:
>> All,
>> 
>> About a week ago, Bill English passed away. He was a Xerox guy, who along with Douglas Engelbart of "Mother of all demos" fame, created our beloved mouse:
>> 
>> https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53638033
>> 
>> I remember, back in the mid-1980's being part of a focus group evaluating Microsoft's mouse. Wow, time flies.
>> 
>> -Will
>>  -- 
>> GPG Fingerprint: 68F4 B3BD 1730 555A 4462  7D45 3EAA 5B6D A982 BAAF

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Re: [TUHS] in memoriam - Bill English, mouse co-creator

[Lawrence Stewart]

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> On 2020, Aug 11, at 1:30 PM, Earl Baugh <earl.baugh@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The Sun 1 also had a Hawley mouse ( as an early option ), before they switched to the optical. 
> 
> Earl 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Aug 11, 2020, at 10:03 AM, Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Thanks, Will. A mild sigh while reading it though because history seems to often forget Jack Hawley's role.   Truth is he did not invent it, but he >>is<< the one that made them and got people to use them (the Xerox Alto's used a Hawley Mouse, DEC would use it, E&S used them etc.).  As this article points out, he made about 80% of all the mice used in the 1970s:  https://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/hawley/ <https://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/hawley/>  - certainly the first ones I used at CMU before we got the Altos and then after the first Alto's appeared.   
>> 
>> Tek's Magnolia used a flavor of the Hawley mouse in 1979 [the ones with buttons horizontal/parallel to the 'body' - the original Alto mouse the buttons were horizontal and colored), but I don't remember what 3Rivers PascAlto used - I think so, but I don't remember.
>> 
>> On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 6:50 PM Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com <mailto:will.senn@gmail.com>> wrote:
>> All,
>> 
>> About a week ago, Bill English passed away. He was a Xerox guy, who along with Douglas Engelbart of "Mother of all demos" fame, created our beloved mouse:
>> 
>> https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53638033 <https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53638033>
>> 
>> I remember, back in the mid-1980's being part of a focus group evaluating Microsoft's mouse. Wow, time flies.
>> 
>> -Will
>>  -- 
>> GPG Fingerprint: 68F4 B3BD 1730 555A 4462  7D45 3EAA 5B6D A982 BAAF

Hawley built the first mice used by PARC.  The first optical mouse was invented, AFAIK, by Dick Lyon, see http://www.dicklyon.com/tech/OMouse/OpticalMouse-Lyon.pdf <http://www.dicklyon.com/tech/OMouse/OpticalMouse-Lyon.pdf>  This paper has a brief history of Xerox mechanical mice as well.

Dick is just a renaissance engineer, with contributions to hearing aids, the Fovea camera, and he later designed the Google Street View cameras. His book on Human and Machine Hearing is outstanding.

-L


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