Computer Pointer

"What are you doing, honey ?"

"My boss wants this typing ready for early tomorrow morning, for the important presentation he has to make. He has made many corrections and additions. I didn't want to stay late at work, so I told him I would put it on a floppy disk, take it home and finish it on the word processor there."

"Was he surprised to hear that you had a word processor at home ?"

"Yes, he was, until I explained that we had a pre-production personal computer at home, from the computer factory where you work."

"Can you show me how you are using it, honey ?"

"Well my boss dictates what he wants, and then I use his word processor, set the text to double spaced and then print it. Then I have to read it to him, and he always wants to make little changes, or add extra bits here and there, that's why I type it double spaced. Now I'm adding all the new bits, but it is very fiddly, getting the screen cursor to the correct positions in the text each time."

"That's because all you can use are the keyboard arrow keys. I wonder if there is a better way."

"Well, that's your job, so, I leave it to you." 

"Any luck with something to replace using the arrow keys, to move the cursor on the computer screen ?"

"None at all. We tried using a joystick, like the thing people use to control a model aircraft, which we wired to the computer. The trouble with a joystick is, that you can control it well for small movements, but when you make it move more, to go from one side of the screen to the other, it is almost impossible to get it to stop where you want. We could see that having something separate from the keyboard looked promising, so next we made a small box with North, East, South and West buttons. We tried programming the buttons so that the longer you pressed them, the farther the cursor would move. But this was no better, as to get good control the buttons had to move the cursor slowly, which was quite frustrating. Also, if you moved the cursor too far, you had to change to another button to move it back. We realised that we needed something that you could move quickly, to get the cursor somewhere near the target area, and also move it slowly, backwards or forwards, to get to the precise position. Nothing seemed to be much better than the keyboard arrow keys that you use now."

"So, wasted time then ?"

"Not quite, because we now realise that the thing we need has to be something separate from the computer, but wired to it, and something that we can use to move the cursor either quickly or slowly, and in any direction, for precision positioning."

"Honey, I know you are not doing any word processing at home this evening, but try this thing. It should be much better than the other things we have tried."

"Whatever is it, connected to the computer ? A box, with the top of a large ball showing through this large hole at the top ?"

"It is called a tracker ball. The military used to use them to get guns to point in the right direction. You just put your hand on the top of the ball, and move the ball forwards or backwards, or from side to side, to position the screen cursor where you want it, and you can move it quickly or slowly. Put some text up on the screen and try it."

"Oh, yes, this is much better than the keyboard arrow keys. As you say, I can move the cursor quickly up or down the page, and then slowly, to get the cursor to exactly where I want it. Then I just press the Enter key, and start typing from there. Very good. But the whole thing is rather large to have at the side of the keyboard, and I have to lift my arm up to use it."

"Yes, I would need to make a hole in the table, so that the top of the ball is at the same level."

"Well, you are certainly not going to make a hole in my table, just for your tracker ball thing."

"Oh, dear. Back to the drawing board."

"Hurry up, darling, and come into bed. Whatever are you doing ?"

"I'm putting de-odorant under my arms. I want to smell nice in the morning, just in case you get any romantic ideas, after I get into bed."

"What is that thing ? It looks like a large lipstick."

"Oh, you men know nothing. It is called a roll-on. Hold out your hand, and let me show you. It has this large ball at the end, and you just roll it over your skin." 

"Um, that's interesting. Very interesting. Well, I don't think you need worry about any romantic ideas tonight. I think you have just given me a rather good technical idea, which needs thinking about."  

"I see you have connected a little box thing to the computer, by the wire going to it. What does it do ?"

"It lets you position the cursor on the computer screen, in the same way that the tracker ball did. However, now you just move the little box, towards or away from you, or sideways, on the table top, to position the cursor on the computer screen. And, do you see the little button on top ? You just press the button when the cursor is at the right position, instead of having to go to the keyboard, to use the Enter key."

"I hope it isn't going to scratch the table, as I move it around."

"Well, it shouldn't. Look underneath. There is just that little ball, which rolls over the table. However, if you want, we can put it on a mat, to protect the precious table. See how you get on with it."

"Um. I like it, and it feels quite natural to use, ergonomic, I think the word is. But what do you call it ?"

"It's, um, a Computer Roll On Pointer, or Crop, for short."

"Well, I'm not going to call it a Crop. That's a silly name. I'm going to call it what it looks like."

"And what is that, honey ?"

"A mouse."