Video: Who made the first optical mouse? And who cares?

Okay so I've watched. I like the video. People will like it mostly. I disagree with your primary point. It's possible that in your retro computing circles, nobody talks about the Intellimouse, but they do in mine. Microsoft even brought back the brand because it was well loved and it was something of which to be proud. It was covered in these oral histories. The Intellimouse was (and is) put on a pedestal. How many mice have a well made and exhaustive Wikipedia page? Indeed, this rant video sounds, to me, like a rant about how nobody credits the Model M with the modern keyboard layout and nobody talks about it enough...they do. Maybe you're just missing it. Everyone loves and worships that mouse, not just for the Explorer variant, but for the fucking SCROLL WHEEL they introduced with it. Amazing. If that wasn't your point, and your point was to talk about the development of the module that turned into the Intellimouse, then I think that fits with your "who cares nobody used it before the Intellimouse" idea, and isn't important.

Funkmon

I know you're unsure about more emotive presentations, but I really enjoyed your passion in this video. You're damn right. To some extent, you have to wonder if this was just Capitalism: invent a thing, find the market might not be ready quite yet, so instead of refining that invention to reduce cost, do nothing and hope you can litigate when others inevitably trip over your IP, because that will be more profitable.

I've just finished watched the "old" version and loved every second of it. You came across to me as nothing but passionate about getting to the the truth. I would love to know why HP never made an Optical Mouse, what sort of business descision is that?

Mark Elliott

Love it! I respect immensely and I'm deeply in awe of all the work done at Xerox, but I felt that "fuck xerox" at around 18 minutes. Those bastards robbed us! As someone who is in general rather sour when big companies take existing concepts, repackage them and are hailed as innovators, this perspective has been very interesting to hear - you've genuinely changed my view :) Also I enjoyed the excerpts from the CHM interviews - it's really cool that you dug up the exact words of the specific people who actually were there when the optical mouse was invented. But you're right in that it's a somewhat different video than the rest - I would almost suggest labeling it as a different "series", but it's not quite so distinct just yet, I think. I'm really enjoying the experiments with video styles, though!

Tomáš Mládek

K I just took a look at the new version - the intro is perfect imo :)

Cai Tastrophe

Thinking about it some more, I feel like the issue is maybe not the anger itself, but your presentation of it. I think there are probably some editing and stylistic choices you could make that might take the edge off a bit, and I also think that some of the ways you've deviated from your usual style for this video actually might be contributing to the problem. I'll start with what I think might be the biggest issue: you're standing, and you're kind of pacing. I get what you're going for; you're trying to create more of a natural, dynamic, conversational tone. But combined with the angrier-than-usual tone it creates quite a threatening vibe. Not to put too fine a point on it, for some of us PTSDers, noticing that somebody seems angrier than usual and is standing up and pacing when they would usually be sitting down has often been the prelude to Bad Things Occurring. The other thing is that the fairly naturalistic way you've presented this section makes it feel quite "real". Again, I get why you want that, and I think it's a good idea, but I think if you had stuck with your usual more stylised and produced "presenter in a TV studio" presentation, with quicker cuts, more onscreen graphics, sitting at a desk etc., then that probably would have helped create some distance that would have made the same level of anger feel less intense. And the last thing I'd say is you could always try and defuse the anger with extra humour, or even music?! Dunno, just a thought. Please forgive the lack of paragraph breaks, Patreon won't let me! Also, I see you've done a new version - thanks :)

Cai Tastrophe

Seems great to me! Here’s hoping the video is overall well received 😊

Skoddie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIKZCQnplDA I made a new version, lmk if this seems adequate. Thanks!

Cathode Ray Dude

Thanks, both of you: I had a similar response to that part of the video (and probably for the same reasons), but I also think a little warning at the start would be a good solution. I don't think any of your viewers want you to feel like you can't create the kind of content you want to make.

Cai Tastrophe

I personally enjoy your videos because of the passion you have for your subjects; whether it's something you love or cannot stand, and regardless how scripted it is that passion still comes out. Your videos have been hitting all the right notes IMO, including this one.

Scott Kemp

in about 1987 (+/-2 years) i visited a public computer lab in some kind of tech museum in Munich, aimed at technerds kids like me. Those Siemens PCs on display were demonstrating some kind of CAD to "hands on" yourself. (And there was a version DR-HALO on them which was a lot more fun, for me). And they had mice pads with those xerox stripe-patterns, and the mice were optical. In other words: it seems that there had beem some obscure licensing(?)/implementation on the PC market. but as Siemens was, it was certainly horribly overpriced too.

Andreas Dorfer

as a CS undergrad in like 1996 i got what i thought would be my DREAM JOB: working the overnight shift at the computer lab at my university. i was convinced that this would be my gateway to EXTREME COMPUTER HACKING but actually like 75% of my job, as the new kid, was cleaning mouse balls. We actually had a little printed out binder with step by step instructions of how to clean the..mouse balls. i would have added my own marginalia or illustrations to this document but my previous colleauges had pretty much exhausted all the humor opportunites there. BUT! in an old forgotten corner of the (basement, 1960's era, think fallout shelter) computer lab there were these ancient machines called "sunterms." yes they were made by sun. we had other machines made by sun that we called xterms, they were what the cool kids used. they had regular ball mice like the other ~200 computers in the lab (macs, pcs, xterms.) but the sunterms were super janky and old and only the COOLEST kids would use them. the sunterms had these optical mice (which were REALLY unusual at the time) and if you turned them over a little red light blinked at you. the thing was, it needed to be on this weird reflective mouse pad that had a graph paper design on it. they were EXTREMELY flaky and annoying to use but still felt like magic or something. (plus it gave you incentive to learn keyboard shortcuts uphill both ways) I have not thought about these weird mice in like um, however long it is since 1996 (don't make me thing about it) but holy crap here they are. I honestly love how all these different technologies interacted in a way that resulted in something that we can't imagine living without now.

You remind me of my ferret, who also loves to chase down mice

Peter Chomczynski

Whoops, sorry I replied before seeing your second response. A foreword is a great solution! I think the surprise of it was the main issue :)

Skoddie

I definitely apologize if that's the impression I've given, that of making you feel that you need to be restricted in how you create videos. Other than those few seconds I actually really enjoyed the intensity, irreverence, & frustration in this video. It is neither your fault nor your responsibility that I have had terrifying experiences around masc people shouting. It is the trans experience, and you do more to make the world better for people like me than basically anybody else that makes videos similar to yours. My concern was that if it hit me that hard, it might hit others that hard, and I hoped maybe you could know about that potential before releasing it to a broader audience and getting flooded with comments. That said, if this is a new genre of CRD video, I'm gonna vibe with it. It's worth managing my own response for what I ultimately get from your work.

Skoddie

(damnit, patreon, why did you post when I pressed enter) I'm considering just adding a foreword at the beginning to alleviate this concern. Thanks for the feedback!

Cathode Ray Dude

Well, this more or less answers a question that I had no other way to clarify, which is "what if I don't want to do Chill Stuff forever." I've felt kind of painted into a corner by the style I chose, and I think your response confirms that at least some people have firm expectations I can't entirely get away with violating.

Cathode Ray Dude

Hey Gravis! I love your work, have been a fan for years, and regularly tell folks that you're one of the most interesting and most potential-filled YouTuber out there. Not in tech, not in the retro space, just period. You absolutely are. Because of this, I really hesitate to be critical. I don't want to dim your flame, I don't want to give you any reason to not do what you're doing because you do SUCH a good job at it. So...I agree with your video, I love that you're approaching this topic that has frustrated me for years. What is this obsession our society, or at least the media, seems to have with determining who the 'first' to do anything was? [insert extended rant about 'One Great Man' theory] My point: The shouting that begins at 20:00 and concludes with you forcefully throwing a mouse is rough. I've never seen anything like it in your videos. It poked my PTSD, I had to pause and breathe. I am having a rougher time than normal lately, so maybe that's the issue, because outside of my response, I respect your passion. But it hit me hard enough that I didn't feel right not saying something, so this is my best attempt to give you a heads up that this edit might have this effect on others, in the most kind & loving way possible. I'm not sure what you could do, and I don't want you to scrap this one. It's a good video and is a conversation that is needed by your viewers. Those 10-20 seconds were just particularly intense. I hope this was in some way helpful, and as always, thank you for all of the amazing videos.

Skoddie

The current title is just a placeholder - but in any case, this is about the public perception of the question more than the specific answer.

Cathode Ray Dude

Feel like the title should have some other adjective in there especially considering your video on the Q500 cheapo optical mouse a year ago. First usable? First workable? Last universal common ancestor of all modern mice? or quotation marks. the other solutions were janky garbage dead ends but still

Drew Hoffman