Portfolio Assignment 1

Scott Hommel

7/9/2013

CMSY-129-N091

Portfolio Assignment 1

Internet and Web Technologies

     This article is about the passing of Doug Engelbart, who invented the computer mouse back in the 1960's. He is also said to have worked on "early incarnations of email and word processing." His computer studies eventually led to the formation of his own laboratory, the Augmentation Research Center, where he helped developed ARPANET and was involved with the development of the internet. He is also credited with holding the first video teleconference and, although he has received many accolades such as the National Medal of Technology, he did not make much money off of his invention of the mouse because his patent ran out before it became widely used. This article relates to the week's reading because we studied internet history, including ARPA, ARPANET, and the some of the protocols, hardware, and software that Engelbart helped create.

I enjoyed reading this article because I had never heard of Doug Engelbart before, and it's a shame that more people are not familiar with him considering all he has given to the field of computer technology. It's very interesting that his original mouse design was a simple wooden shell covering two metal wheels, and overall after reading about him he sounds like a brilliant man. I am in the middle of reading a book by Ray Kurzweil titled The Age of Spiritual Machines, and Engelbart appears to have share some of Kurzweil's futuristic visions, believing that "computers could be used to augment human intellect."

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Works Cited

"Computer Mouse Inventor Doug Engelbart Dies at 88." BBC News. BBC, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 09 July      

     2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23174052>.