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Mouse | Mice | Accessories | marketplace | Applications | Mice in Gaming

In the 1970s, Xerox PARC included mice with its Xerox Star. Later, inspired by the Star, Apple Computer released the Apple Lisa, which also used a mouse. However, neither the Star nor the Lisa were commercially successful. Only with the release of the Apple Macintosh in 1984 did the mouse first see widespread use.
The Macintosh design was influential, and its success led many other vendors to begin producing mice or including them with their other computer products. The widespread adoption of graphical user interfaces in the 1980s and 1990s made mice indispensable for computer use. As of 2000, Dataquest estimated that mice for a total cost of US$1.5 billion were sold annually worldwide.

Other variants - Alternative devices

• Trackball – user moves a ball mounted in a fixed base.
• Mini-mouse – a small egg-sized mouse for use with laptop computers; it is usually small enough to be used on a free area of the laptop body itself.
• Camera mouse – a camera tracks the head movement and moves the onscreen cursor. Natural pointers track the dot on a person's head and move the cursor accordingly.
• Palm mouse – held in the palm and operated with only 2 buttons; the movements across the screen correspond to a feather touch, and pressure increases the speed of movement.
• Foot mouse – a mouse variant for those who do not wish to or cannot use the hands or the head; instead, footclicks are used.
• Tablet– It appears as a pen but is used as a mouse. It is held like a normal pen and is moved across a special pad. The thumb usually controls the clicking on a two-way button on the top of the mouse.
• Eyeball controlled– A mouse controlled by the user's eyeball/retina movements, allowing the cursor to be manipulated without touch.