"By the way, have any of you heard of something called a mouse? It is a device that can control the cursor generated on the computer interface."

Carter, who had gained some comfort from exploring the field of production orders, temporarily put aside the summer training matters that seemed to be a collective Mercury retrograde and concentrated on arranging the next important task.

The mouse is an indispensable peripheral in a visual graphics operating system. The importance of this thing is self-evident, and what's even more terrible is that.

Originally, Carter thought that the graphical operating system in 1982 was a bit too early and too nonsense! Whether it could meet the technical standards was a question!

But during the candlelight conversation that night, Carter, a layman in technology, described his thoughts on the future development direction of Microsoft and said:

"Visual graphical operating system is the future of Microsoft! The biggest advantage of this system is to lower the threshold of use! It allows more people to easily use the convenience brought by computers. In fact, it is not just an update to the operating system. We will do it in the future

Software, the core of my business, or the requirement for the technical team has only one requirement: to reduce the difficulty of use and lower the entry barrier!"

“You don’t even need to worry about how many bugs there are or how bad the initial user experience is. These problems can be solved slowly with version updates. As long as the entry barrier is lowered, our customers will become more and more!

Until we unify this market.”

The topic has opened up a lot, and Bill, who is still in the ice-breaking stage, is naturally a little unconvinced. In the eyes of Gates at this moment, technology is king:

"That's not right! I seem to have seen the kind of system you mentioned. In 1973, Xerox PARC Research Institute developed the kind of thing you mentioned. It was used on Xerox Alto. It was a graphical operating system. Users issued instructions

Computer instructions no longer require codes, but directly use a device called an X-Y position indicator, and the software can be started by clicking on the icon, but the market effect is not good!"

Oh. Right!

"That mouse should also have a name, called X-Y position indicator. The mouse is just a joking name because it drags a long line and looks like a mouse's tail."

Taking into account the popularity of mice today, Carter quickly changed his explanation.

And the facts prove that this wave of operations is right!

"X-Y position indicator. I think I've seen this before. I forgot I saw it in that article, but I remember the author seemed to be a professor at Stanford Research Institute."

"Nichol, are you sure?"

Carter was stunned when he heard this, and what followed was a surprise.

According to Carter's own limited memory, he seems to have heard that the mouse was invented by Xerox. If the patent for the mouse belongs to Xerox, then it will be difficult to obtain the license, or in other words, the patent will be bought out.

"It should be, why don't you go to the library and check it out? It seems to be in area D on the third floor of Beinecke."

"Okay! I'll go right away."

"What are you going to do now? You don't even know what time it is!"

"That's right."

The next day, on the third floor of Beinecke Library, Carter was dumbfounded when he looked at the vast collection of books in front of him.

To talk about the situation of Yale University's library, you can know it with one data: Yale has the largest university library in the United States; and, looking at the world, Yale is also the second largest!

There are more than 11 million books in the collection, distributed in 22 buildings including Beinecke. On average, each library has a collection of 500,000 books, and Yale's buildings are usually not high.

This also means that basically there are nearly 100,000 books on each floor. If you want to find that one book among the 100,000 books, no, it should be said that it is just mentioned in a certain article in a certain book.

mouse.

"Rick, please ask for leave for me again!"

"To Stanford?"

"That's right, it's probably easier to go directly to Stanford to find people than to find books here!"

"Haha, you will always come looking for me. Starting this year, we will be preparing to write a paper. We will be here when the time comes."

Rick chuckled. Like Carter, Rick himself was frightened when he saw these books:

"I'm afraid we'll have to come more often! There's no avoiding it!"

"Oh, let's talk about this later! It's really here. Forget it, I'll leave first! When we get to California, we have to spend half a day on the road."

"It looks like you bought the right airplane! Otherwise, it wouldn't be something that can be solved in half a day."

Saying goodbye to Carter with a smile, Rick walked towards the sea of ​​books in front of him

Just when Rick was addicted to the ocean of knowledge and almost drowned, Carter, who arrived in Palo Alto, California, also received some unfortunate news

The so-called Stanford Research Institute had separated from Stanford University as early as 1970 and became an independently operated commercial comprehensive research institute. To find them, first of all, Carter went to the wrong place when he came to Palo Alto.

Secondly, Stanford is no longer involved in their operations.

I originally thought this was an opportunity to fool academic nerds, but it turned out that

After sighing softly and regaining his composure, Carter came to the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park.

"The X-Y position indicator patent does belong to our institute. But unfortunately, the patent owner, Professor Douglas Engelbart, is currently in the laboratory, so I won't disturb you. You see, if you don't leave your contact information, I will contact you when he comes out.

Then inform him of your visit, if "

"No, I'll just wait here for him! Thank you!"

Um?

Patent owner

With his eyebrows twitching, Carter quickly interrupted the lady at the front desk and began to show her hospitality.

"I know these professors are very selfless once they get into work. So, I plan to go out and buy some desserts and milk tea. Do you have any taste preferences?"

"I thank you for your kindness, but it's my working hours"

"Hey, am I your potential customer with strong intention to cooperate?"

"This. It should be right?!"

"Then your job is to receive every visitor, including following up on potential customers."

Carter chuckled, turned around and walked out:

"So, it is your job to have a cup of afternoon tea with me. Don't worry, we will enjoy the afternoon tea time in the institute. If there are new visitors, you can just continue your work! After all, I really can't bear it.

Let a beauty like you watch me longingly and enjoy myself alone."

"Sharing is a virtue!"

Therefore, sharing some information with me is also a virtue!!

As a comprehensive academic research institute, it is not just a roadside snack bar or clothing store. There are almost no people like Carter who come to visit in person without making an appointment.

During the afternoon tea time that lasted for nearly two hours, there was no interruption from outsiders.

Carter, who is close to everyone, easily got the information he wanted from the girl at the front desk.

(End of chapter)


Chapter completed!