Bill English: Computer mouse co-creator dies at 91

Posted by app4soft on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @07:11AM
from the bbc.com dept.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53638033

( 5 comments | 60 points | on HN )

Re:Bill English: Computer mouse co-creator dies at 91 by MindGods on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @08:51AM (#24049403)

See recent discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24032820

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Re:Bill English: Computer mouse co-creator dies at 91 by maweki on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @08:55AM (#24049436)

Of course, in hindsight the rodentiometer is an obvious input for the computer. One wonders how long it would have taken somebody else to invent this, if English didn't exist. How "ripe" was the community for this idea to surface?

Well, at least I always wonder with such inventions. How long have all the prerequisites been there? How large a problem has been solved? How many people had that problem? How incremental was the advancement?

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Re:Bill English: Computer mouse co-creator dies at 91 by hsson on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @09:27AM (#24049711)

I remember learning about him in uni.. RIP Bill

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Re:Bill English: Computer mouse co-creator dies at 91 by rvz on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @08:39AM (#24049311)

Can we have a black bar in recognition of the achievements of this pioneering computer scientist and engineer please? RIP Bill English.

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Re:Bill English: Computer mouse co-creator dies at 91 by app4soft on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @07:18AM (#24048791)

> Mr English died of respiratory failure on 26 July in California, his wife Roberta said.

Seems like COVID-19, but covered by family, as many others relatives and friends of the deceased this year did.[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2020#26

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