ALPS mice
1983
Sharp MZ-1X10 Mouse
Sharp MZ-1X10 mouse, known to be the the first mouse in Japan, practically at the same time when the Microsoft’s first mouse, known as the “green-eyed mouse” because of its two green buttons. The real manufacturer of both mice was the Japanese company Alps. The MZ-1X10 mouse was intended for use with Sharp MZ-5500 computers, which were based on the Intel 8086 processor, running MS-DOS and aimed at business users.
1983
Microsoft Green-eyed Mouse
Microsoft’s first mouse was released in 1983 and was also the first product from its hardware division, which the company opened a year earlier. Because of the two green buttons, this model is known as the “green-eyed mouse”.
1984
Mindset Mouse
Mindset Mouse came bundled with the Mindset personal computer. The Mindset computer was released in 1984 by Mindset Corporation, and was on sale for only a year. In technical terms, it was partially compatible with the IBM PC, based on the Intel 80186 processor and a non-standard graphics subsystem that had enhanced capabilities, including hardware acceleration of some typical graphics operations.
The real manufacturer of the mouse was the Japanese company Alps – the manufacturer of the first Japanese mouse, MZ-1X10, introduced to the Japanese market one year earlier.
1985
Microsoft Gray-eyed Mouse
This mouse, which went on sale in 1985, became a second generation of Microsoft mice. The company simply called its early models “Microsoft mouse”, sometimes also specifying the method of connection to the computer. Therefore, the official name of this one, “Microsoft Serial Mouse”, was rather confusing, and the mouse became known among users as the “Microsoft Gray-Eyed Mouse” (to differentiate it from the first generation mice with a pair of green buttons known under the “Green-Eyed Mouse” nickname). Also sometimes this mouse is referred to as “Microsoft Mouse 5.0”, apparently due to the variants of the first generation mice with different interfaces. The real manufacturer of the mouse, as in the case of the first generation, was the Japanese company Alps.
1985
Siemens PC-D mouse
In 1984, Siemens announced the PC-D personal computer working under MS DOS but not hardware compatible with IBM PC. This computer was based on Intel 80186 processor, had proprietary monochrome graphics adapter with 12-inch display, custom keyboard, and RAM varying from 128 Kb to 1 Mb. Software included MS DOS 2.11 and Windows 1.0 as well as a number of office applications and few simple games. One year later a two-button quadrature mouse was added to the list of its optional peripheral devices.
1987
Microsoft Dove Bar Mouse
The mouse, nicknamed the “Dove Bar Mouse” by users because of the similarly shaped soap bar, went on sale in 1987, becoming the third generation of Microsoft mice. The design was developed by Microsoft in collaboration with Matrix Design (which later merged with Hovey-Kelley, the designers of the Apple Lisa mouse, to become the design company IDEO). The mouse’s production, as with previous generations of Microsoft mice, was outsourced to the Japanese company Alps. This is probably the first mouse for which the designers set the ergonomics as their main goal. First of all, this resulted in the shape of the body inspired by a sanding block, which automatically ensured a comfortable hand position, worked out on many generations of people.
1987
Sharp KI-OM0002CE01 trackball/mouse combo
In 1986, Sharp announced the release of the 16-bit personal computer X68000 for the Japanese market based on the Motorola 68000 processor. The computer went on sale in March 1987. It was positioned as a personal workstation, and immediately attracted attention due to its rich graphics capabilities and audio synthesis (not inferior to the best game consoles of the late 80s), complemented by the unusual design of the system unit in a dual vertical case. Included with this computer was an unusual convertible mouse, which could additionally work as a trackball. Since the device was not intended for separate sale, it received the difficult-to-remember model number KI-OM0002CE01 (when subsequent generations of X68000 computers were released, the mouse model number increased by one, but the mouse itself did not undergo substantial visible changes).