d the lab by getting more than adequate funding from ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) to support the work of Engelbart to its conclusion.During the time when the mouse debuted computers had just arrived into the small business market. They were still costly and not economically viable for home computer users. Because of the great expense involved there was no need to cater to the needs of the general public, which requires user-friendly computers. User-friendly means that the computer's operating system and interface are easy-to-learn. The change to using the mouse was also uneconomical for computer manufacturers of the time because there was no demand for them except for the editing of text. Some computers of the time were equipped with mouse support, specifically the Amstrad PC 1512, but the mouse remained unpopular due to its limited uses. The first commercial mouse was not released until 1982.Hardware and software support is another problem the mouse had to overcome. As mentioned previously, the mouse was released before most computer systems had hardware support for it. Therefore, even if the computer used a program that incorporated a mouse, there was nowhere to connect the mouse with the motherboard. Also there was no code for the CPU (central processing unit) to understand the signals it received from the mouse. Software support was also a factor in the marketable integration of mice. To incorporate the mouse into already existing software would take massive reprogramming. With limited computer hardware support this would not be economically feasible. As GUIs came into use and more computers supported the mouse, programs began to slowly incorporate mice into their new software.Graphical user interface based operating systems, like Microsoft Windows and Macintosh, were the first programs to effectively employ the versatility of the mouse. Not only was it possible to edit text, but files could be moved and ins...
