C O L L E C T O R S ' C A R D S Brilliant postcards Send an electronic postcard with interesting facts about our Brilliant Careers subjects ___________________ Click! Use that mouse to search for computer books at BarnesandNoble.com! ___________________   R E C E N T L Y   I N T R O Why we launched Brilliant Careers		______Doug Engelbart INVENTED THE MOUSE -- AND MUCH MORE. HE STILL DREAMS OF UPGRADING THE HUMAN OPERATING SYSTEM. BY ANDREW LEONARD | "What's that?" I ask, pointing to an unfamiliar device positioned to the left of Doug Engelbart's computer keyboard. The size of two decks of playing cards placed side by side, the gadget features five piano-organ style keys that Engelbart's long fingers are familiarly tapping. The 73-year-old man glances up at me, his eyes lighting up for the first time during our interview. "That's the future!" he exclaims. The future -- and the past. Engelbart explains that the seeming musical instrument is a "chordal keyboard," something he and his legendary team of computer researchers invented more than 30 years ago. Designed to be used in conjunction with the mouse, which Engelbart's team also invented, the chordal keyboard allows users to type all the letters of the alphabet with just one hand. With both a mouse and a chordal keyboard, a computer user can navigate an information landscape by pointing and clicking and simultaneously entering text commands. In contrast to the mouse, the chordal keyboard never quite caught on with the general public; learning the various key combinations that generate different letters proved too great an obstacle. But that doesn't bother Engelbart. Much more worrisome is the widespread failure to recognize that neither the keyboard nor the mouse nor any of the other innovations cooked up by Engelbart's team -- little things like multiple windows on a computer screen or hypertext links -- are interesting in and of themselves. Their true significance, he believes, is that they are elements of a system designed to cope with the problem of the world's increasing complexity. That system is what Engelbart refers to when he invokes "the future" -- and it is a future nearly as far away now as it was in 1951, when Engelbart first began strategizing the best way to boost human capabilities. Two weeks after our first meeting, Engelbart was honored by his peers and admirers at an all-day event at Stanford University dubbed "Engelbart's Unfinished Revolution." The event commemorated the 30th anniversary of the day Engelbart and his team stunned the computing elite with their blueprint for "the future." A parade of computing industry heroes lauded Engelbart's achievements, and the 1500-strong audience brought him close to tears with an emotional standing ovation. The recognition was long overdue. Engelbart is a leading torchbearer for the dream that computers can help change the world for the better. In today's Silicon Valley, so obsessed by stock-option plans and corporate exit strategies, by e-commerce and the latest, greatest microprocessor chip, it is easy to forget the powerful humanist impulses that have propelled the computer's evolution. Engelbart is the living embodiment of that humanism -- that rare computer scientist who thinks about people first. N E X T_ P A G E .|. He looked like a cyborg visionary and dreamed of upgrading society   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - R E S O U R C E   P A G E Click here for more information about the people profiled in Brilliant Careers.   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Become a Salon member. Click here.