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The trackball was invented in 1941 by Ralph Benjamin as part of a World at War II-era fire-control radar plotting system.
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The trackball was patened in 1947 but only one protoype was made useing a metal ball rolling on 2 rubber coated wheels. This was kept a military secret.
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Douglas Engelbart invented his first mouse prototype, with the help of his lead engineer Bill English, They named the device the mouse becasue it resembled a mouse with the cord coming out of the back of the mouse.
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When the Telefunken Main Frame was being produced his team came up with a movable trackball, This would prevent the need to make holes to mount for early trackballs.
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The Rollkugel was released a few months before Engelbart released his demo.
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On this date Engelbart released his mouse idea to the world.
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The mouses were integrated as part of a computer and intended for personal use with the Xerox 8010 Star Information System.
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The Xerox 8010 was the best knowen computer to have a mice with it.
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Microsoft came up with a program that was mouse compatable called MS-DOS. Then Microsoft became the first to have a PC-compatible mouse.
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Microsoft's mouse shipped in 1983, thus beginning Microsoft Hardware.
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However, the mouse remained relatively obscure until the 1984 appearance of the Macintosh 128K
