"In 1963, Engelbart set up his own research lab. He called it the Augmentation Research Center. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s his mlab developed an elaborate hypermedia—groupware system called NLS (oNLine System). NLS facilitated the creation of digital libraries and storage and retrieval of electronic documents using hypertext. This was the first successful implementation of hypertext. NLS used a new device to facilitate computer interaction—the mouse. (The mouse was not adopted for general use until the 1980s when Apple computers began using them). NLS also created new graphical user interfaces implementing a windowing environment and allowed the user to e-mail other users as well as offering a variety of word processing options. Perhaps most remarkably, NLS also provided for on-screen video teleconferencing. All of these technologies, which are now ubiquitous, were truly astonishing to most back in the 1960s.
In 1968, at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, Engelbart demonstrated NLS in a 90 minute multimedia presentation that included a live video conference with staff members back in his lab 30 miles away. To this day, Engelbart's demo is still known as "the mother of all demos." It was truly groundbreaking, but Engelbart was way ahead of his time. His ideas were to different and new for others to fully grasp. Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future said," "It [the demo] was like a UFO landing on the White House lawn." (Saffo in O'Brien). Some people in attendance thought the whole thing was a hoax."
- From ibiblio.org
Watch this amazing video demo. From the demo: "I don't know why we call it a mouse. Sometimes I apologize. It started that way and we never did change it." Also, take note of the crazy 5 key input device for text.
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