Back in 1968, Douglas Engelbart was ready to introduce the world — or at least a crowd of 1,000 in San Francisco — to networked computing. Engelbart was a shy engineer and had no marketing background. All he wanted to do was speak directly to other engineers so that they could use computers to solve complex human problems. This was a radical idea in 1968. Computers were used for crunching numbers and running systems. Not only did Engelbart came up with the idea of using computers to solve the many problems facing humanity but he also gave the first-ever live demonstration of networked personal computing. To this day, it’s known as the “mother of all demos.” It started everything that’s happened since. At the time of the demo, computers used punch cards. Engelbart proudly showed off the keyboard that had letters and numbers and a delete function. He showed the crowd how to copy and paste. He pulled up a map that when you clicked on different locations, it told you what you needed to do there. The software was revolutionary on its own, but Engelbart had also created a tracking device called a mouse. Afterwards, Engelbart expected people to line up to ask him how they could join his network. Instead, despite a standing ovation, they all left.
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