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Back when computers were still just number-crunching machines, Douglas Engelbart foresaw their more powerful application in helping humans collaborate. One summer day in 2000, I was in the Silicon Valley offices of the computer peripherals maker Logitech for a demonstration of a gimmicky new mouse. It was only mildly interesting, until a soft-spoken older gentleman came into the room. It was Doug Englebart. Because he is credited with inventing the computer mouse, Logitech’s public-relations people were hoping he could help illustrate just how far the device had come since he conjured one out of a block of wood in...

Douglas Engelbart, whose invention of the mouse transformed the way people interact with computers, has died. Engelbart died Tuesday night at his home in Atherton, California, SRI International -- the research institute where he once worked -- said in a statement. He was 88. "Doug's legacy is immense — anyone in the world who uses a mouse or enjoys the productive benefits of a personal computer is indebted to him," Curtis R. Carlson, SRI's president and CEO, said in a written statement. Decades ago, Engelbart came up with the idea we now know as a mouse. His first prototype, which...