--- title: Computer Mouse History: How the Helpful Tech Innovation Came to Be description: April 27, 1981: The computer mouse makes its debut canonical: https://time.com/3831359/computer-mouse-history/ author: Jennifer Latson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-27T14:30:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:06.179Z article:section: History og:title: Computer Mouse History: How the Helpful Tech Innovation Came to Be og:description: April 27, 1981: The computer mouse makes its debut og:url: https://time.com/3831359/computer-mouse-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0eb84829842929b6/6987ec4d55a85915f7a89b28/mouse.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: First Mouse og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Computer Mouse History: How the Helpful Tech Innovation Came to Be twitter:description: April 27, 1981: The computer mouse makes its debut twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0eb84829842929b6/6987ec4d55a85915f7a89b28/mouse.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why the Computer Mouse's Inventor Isn't the Big Cheese > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: 5 Ways Jonathan Ive Changed Your World [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Ways Jonathan Ive Changed Your World](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/U5Oyjh6b.m3u8) (3:22)  _Published 2014-03-17. Jonathan Ive has been essential in designing the envelope-pushing products for Apple for nearly two decades._ by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Apr 27, 2015 2:30 PM UTC  A prototype of the first mouse, from 1968 A prototype of the first mouse, from 1968 Rue des Archives / APIC / Getty Images by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Apr 27, 2015 2:30 PM UTC For an innovation meant to make it easier to use a computer, [its name](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2023689%5F2023703%5F2023620,00.html) was surprisingly unwieldy: “X-Y position indicator for a display system.” The word “mouse” was much catchier, and that’s what the device was eventually called when it debuted as part of a personal computer station, first sold by the Xerox Corporation on this day, April 27, in 1981. Credit for the invention itself goes to Douglas Engelbart, who first developed the computer mouse in 1963, per TIME. By the time the mouse became commercially available, however, Engelbart’s patent had expired, and he never earned royalties for his work. The personal computer that introduced the mouse to the world — with a similarly unwieldy name, [the Xerox 8010 Star Information System](http://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-04/1982%5F04%5FBYTE%5F07-04%5FHuman%5FFactors%5FEngineering#page/n243/mode/2up), and the clunky look common to early personal computers, including a keyboard about the [size of a toaster](http://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-04/1982%5F04%5FBYTE%5F07-04%5FHuman%5FFactors%5FEngineering#page/n245/mode/2up) — revolutionized computing in other ways, too: It was the first with a graphical user interface, navigated by clicking icons rather than typing commands, and the first to incorporate folders, file servers and email, [according to _WIRED_.](http://www.wired.com/2011/04/0427first-computer-mouse/) But like Engelbart, Xerox failed to profit significantly from its innovations. Its failure was twofold, according to the lore of the technology world, as reported by the [_New Yorker_](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/05/16/creation-myth): Its executives didn’t realize the scope of what they’d achieved in the Star workstation — and they let Steve Jobs see it. ### These Vintage Computer Ads Show We've Come a Long, Long Way  1974  1976  1976  1977 Picasa 3.0  1977  1978  1978  1980  1980  1981  1983  1983  1983  1984 In exchange for shares of Apple, Xerox granted Jobs access to its innovation arm, Xerox PARC (short for Palo Alto Research Center) while it was working on the Star system in 1979\. Jobs returned to Apple headquarters determined to improve upon the project. Telling an industrial designer how to build a better mouse, he explained, per the _New Yorker_, “\[The Xerox mouse\] is a mouse that cost three hundred dollars to build and it breaks within two weeks. Here’s your design spec: Our mouse needs to be manufacturable for less than fifteen bucks. It needs to not fail for a couple of years, and I want to be able to use it on Formica and my bluejeans.” Xerox — better known for making copies than computers — ultimately dropped the PC from its portfolio, mouse and all. And in the years that followed, its profits languished while Apple’s continued to rise. In 2000, faced with billion-dollar losses, it even implied that it might put the research center up for sale. Two years later, however, PARC incorporated as an independent subsidiary of Xerox. Its researchers [continue to innovate](http://www.fastcompany.com/3023240/most-creative-people/dreaming-together-how-xerox-keeps-big-ideas-flowing) today — motivated by the center’s immense prestige, if not its history of profit. As [TIME put it](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,998697,00.html) in 2000: “The PARC has a pretty good track record when it comes to radical new visions, even if its record of holding onto them has been spotty at best. The mouse, the GUI (graphical user interface, like Windows) and arguably the PC itself were all born in this hothouse of Silicon Valley R. and D.; they ended up making a lot of money for Apple and Microsoft.” **_Read more about Xerox, here in the TIME archives_**: [Team Xerox](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,998697,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3831359/computer-mouse-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3831359/computer-mouse-history/"},"headline":"Why the Computer Mouse's Inventor Isn't the Big Cheese","datePublished":"2015-04-27T14:30:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:44:06.179Z","description":"April 27, 1981: The computer mouse makes its debut","url":"https://time.com/3831359/computer-mouse-history/","keywords":["Technology","Tech","Apple","Computers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0eb84829842929b6/6987ec4d55a85915f7a89b28/mouse.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Latson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0eb84829842929b6/6987ec4d55a85915f7a89b28/mouse.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"First Mouse","caption":"First Mouse","creditText":"Rue des Archives / APIC / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/technology/","name":"Technology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3831359/computer-mouse-history/","name":"Why the Computer Mouse's Inventor Isn't the Big Cheese"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Ways Jonathan Ive Changed Your World","description":"Jonathan Ive has been essential in designing the envelope-pushing products for Apple for nearly two decades.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/U5Oyjh6b/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-17T07:04:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/U5Oyjh6b.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3831359/computer-mouse-history/","duration":"PT3M22S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3831359/computer-mouse-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```