William English, co-inventor of the computer mouse, died on July 26. His visionary work on computer systems with Douglas Engelbart has enabled the emergence of our modern devices.
One of the pioneers of modern computing and co-inventor of the computer mouse has passed away. According to the New York Times , William English died of respiratory failure on July 26 at the age of 91. A former computer engineer, he is best known for his work with Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute , but he has also worked for Xerox PARC and Sun Microsystems.
In 1968, the duo notably demonstrated their computer system called On-Line System, or NLS, a revolution in hardware and software . This presentation made a big impact on the history of IT, demonstrating many concepts that are still relevant today. The public was able to see the first mouse, but also an interface with windows , hypertext links, word processing, videoconferencing and many others.
A duo that changed history
It was mainly thanks to their teamwork that the two men were able to create such a system, at a time when computers were scarce and generally worked with punch cards . Douglas Engelbart was the visionary who struggled to communicate his ideas. William English was one of the few who understood this and had the ability to turn his concepts into reality.
It was William English who built the first prototype of the computer mouse based on the idea of Douglas Engelbart. He continued to work on it, inventing, in particular, the ball mouse while he worked at Xerox PARC which will be used until the 2000s. The concepts developed by these two men continue to influence modern computing, up to tablets. and smartphones.