Bill English: Computer mouse co-creator dies at 91

MindGods · on Aug 4, 2020

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

maweki · on Aug 4, 2020

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?

hsson · on Aug 4, 2020

I remember learning about him in uni.. RIP Bill

rvz · on Aug 4, 2020

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

app4soft · on Aug 4, 2020

> 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