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Microsoft Hardware Celebrates 20 Years of Product Innovation

Tom Warren   on 02 May 2003 - 13:46 · 25 comments & 931 views

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Breakthrough Technology, Comfort and Style Redefine Customer Experience

Where were you in 1983? Ronald Reagan was president; every child wanted a Cabbage Patch doll; the final episode of "M*A*S*H" aired; compact discs and camcorders were released; and the Microsoft® "green-eyed" mouse hit store shelves. The mouse marked Microsoft Corp.’s entry into the peripherals industry and the beginning of the Hardware Division, formed in 1982 specifically to create a device that would easily navigate the company’s new word processing program, Multi-Tool Word.

"Twenty years ago, we introduced the Microsoft Mouse to help people interact with their PC in a more natural way. As computers have become a significant and essential part of everyday life, our vision for hardware has evolved," said Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect at Microsoft. "Today, we’re focused on providing innovative, stylish and comfortable hardware that opens up new possibilities for people to have fun and be productive."

Since 1983, Microsoft Hardware has designed and developed a wide assortment of computer peripherals to fit customer needs, from mice and keyboards to wireless desktops, trackballs and gaming devices. Microsoft Hardware recently unveiled the largest lineup of mice and keyboards in the company’s history, as well as a full line of broadband networking products, a new category for Microsoft.

View: View hardware timeline
News source: Microsoft PressPass


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(13 replies) #1 Goalie_CA on 02 May 2003 - 16:09
You forgot to finish the title .... of others. Granted they did improve upon many things but for the most part, even nowadays, they're copying from others including linux. If they don't feel like competing they just buy it.
#1.1 Eduardo on 02 May 2003 - 17:04
what are you talking about? Linux hardware? Linus invented the mouse?
#1.2 JaggedFlame on 02 May 2003 - 17:12
[neoquote=#1.0 by Goalie_CA]You forgot to finish the title .... of others. Granted they did improve upon many things but for the most part, even nowadays, they're copying from others including linux. If they don't feel like competing they just buy it.[/neoquote] How many times must this be explained? [b]in·no·vate [ ínn vàyt ][/b] [B]try out new ideas:[/B] to introduce [u]a new way of doing something[/u] or a new device
#1.3 kal-ky on 02 May 2003 - 20:17
Innovating? hehehe You must be a joke. They mostly steal from other people and enhance it. Or things like the name Internet Explorer, it was trademarked by another company, so they bought the company and let it go bankrupt. The only thing I can come up with is the optical mouse.
#1.4 Octol on 03 May 2003 - 00:34
[neoquote=#1.3 by kal-ky]They mostly steal from other people and enhance it.[/neoquote] Do you mean that anyone who improves on the ideas of others is a thief? Nicolaus Otto invented the first internal combustion engine in 1876. So what about Karl Benz--who took that idea and turned it into the first practical engine for automobiles. Did this make him a thief? Or how about Rudolf Diesel, who came up with his own unique version of that engine? (I forget what they call it.) Him too? The list of individuals who built their lives and fortunes around this idea that someone else came up with is a long one. Ransom Olds, Henry Ford, John and Horace Dodge, Louis Chevrolet, and Ferdinand Porsche (my personal favorite), are among those on this list. Were these men thieves also? Isaac Newton, one of the greatest geniuses of this or any age, wrote to his friend Robert Hooke: "If I see further, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants." In other words, very few people are gifted with truly original ideas and can at best hope to improve on the ideas of those that came before them. The history of computing is no different. For 20 years I've been hearing about how Bill Gates "stole" his ideas for the personal computer from Steve Jobs. Does anyone believe that Steve Jobs [I]invented[/I] the computer? NOT!! In fact, the history of the computer can reasonably be traced back to the invention of the Abacus, which is widely believed to have been invented in the fourth century B.C. in--get this--IRAQ! (The first Weapon of Mass Destruction?) However, the [I]electronic[/I] computer can be specifically traced back to ENIAC in 1943. And the fact is that if other people hadn't "stolen" this idea and improved upon it, we'd all be using computers that ran on vacuum tubes, cost $10,000,000.00 each, occupied a space the size of a warehouse, and had all the massive computing power of a digital watch. So before you accuse someone of "stealing" ideas, you may want to think twice about exactly what it is you're accusing them of doing!
#1.5 JaggedFlame on 03 May 2003 - 01:30
Thanks, Octol. I hate having to explain what "innovation" means to the same idiots every time.
#1.6 Jstphish on 03 May 2003 - 07:16
Nice post Octol. BTW, Steve Jobs, literally stole the idea for Mac OS from Xerox. There was no innovation about that. So the next time people complain about how Microsoft stole the idea for the GUI from Apple, they need to remember that Xerox thought of it first.
#1.7 Quick Reply on 03 May 2003 - 11:16
um.... Ford wasn't sucessful for innovation, they were successful because they could mass-produce cars cheaply. and I can't resist this link...ROFL: [url=http://www.microsoft.com/freedomtoinnovate/]http://www.microsoft.com/freedomtoinnovate/[/url] the fact is that Microsoft didn't innovate much, they merly improved existing technology, but I wouldn't go as far as calling them thieves.
#1.8 Octol on 03 May 2003 - 13:47
[neoquote=#1.7 by Quick Reply]um.... Ford wasn't sucessful for innovation, they were successful because they could mass-produce cars cheaply.[/neoquote] You're absolutely right! Henry Ford didn't innovate; his contribution to the automobile was the assembly line--pretty much an [I]original[/I] idea!
#1.9 JaggedFlame on 03 May 2003 - 16:10
[QUOTE]the fact is that Microsoft didn't innovate much, they merly improved existing technology, but I wouldn't go as far as calling them thieves.[/QUOTE] Quick Reply, if you had any idea what the word "innovate" means (HINT: SEE THE DEFINITION POSTED ABOVE), you would know that improving existing technology [b]is the same thing[/b].
#1.10 MZatko55 on 03 May 2003 - 19:00
[url=http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?innovate]http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?innovate[/url]
#1.11 Quick Reply on 04 May 2003 - 12:20
[neoquote=#1.8 by Octol]You're absolutely right! Henry Ford didn't innovate; his contribution to the automobile was the assembly line--pretty much an [I]original[/I] idea![/neoquote] sorry, the assembly line wasn't his idea either, the assembly line idea was taken from one of the american wars (civil or independence, im not sure which one since im not american). The assembly line was invented to mass-produce the newly invented rifle. Ironically, the enemy captured the assembly line and supplied the rifles to their side.
#1.12 Octol on 04 May 2003 - 14:55
I stand corrected. It would likely have been the Civil War as the Revolutionary War was a bit early for the rifle.
#1.13 JaggedFlame on 05 May 2003 - 13:58
It's still an innovation. No one had previously thought of using the assembly line for automobiles, as far as I know.
(2 replies) #2 Eduardo on 02 May 2003 - 17:06
I think that the mouse wheel is the best innovation since the mouse itself. Go MS!
#2.1 werejag on 03 May 2003 - 08:46
microsoft didnt invent the mouse
#2.2 JaggedFlame on 03 May 2003 - 16:11
He didn't say that, fool.
(2 replies) #3 dismuter on 02 May 2003 - 20:14
Microsoft made some very good innovations! The scrolling wheel and the optical sensors... seems like it's all thanks to them. They also initiated the ergonomical mouse idea (correct me if I'm wrong).
#3.1 werejag on 03 May 2003 - 08:47
optical mouse was also not invented by ms
#3.2 JaggedFlame on 03 May 2003 - 16:12
Invent != innovate. I should start keeping a counter of how many times I say that.
#4 Angel Blue01 on 02 May 2003 - 22:19
I'm pretty sure all these things were invented by Logitech. But MS sure made them popular, and cooler still.
#5 qdave on 03 May 2003 - 03:45
damn cool. almost same date as my b-day
#6 Jstphish on 03 May 2003 - 07:18
Optical sensor mouse, scrolling wheel and ergonomic keyboard are the ones I remember and use.
#7 quanta on 03 May 2003 - 20:05
I still have a Microsoft Mouse 5.0 (PS/2 port). It is built like a tank! It still works - just the left mouse button is a little mushy from use. Never had to clean it either, it tracked very well. Fast forward 2003, I'm on my third RMA'ed Intellimouse Explorer and second RMA'ed Internet Keyboard Pro in two years.
#8 antsy on 04 May 2003 - 22:02
LOL MS HW is too expensive

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