Microsoft Mouse
| Manufacturer | Microsoft Alps Electric (contract manufacturer) |
|---|---|
| Type | Mouse |
| Released | May 2, 1983 |
The Microsoft Mouse is a computer mouse released by Microsoft in 1983. It is the first mouse released by the company, and it was bundled with the first versions of Microsoft Word, and/or Notepad (inclusion of these two programs varied in the initial product release), an on-screen teaching tutorial, a musical piano program, a game, and one of the first home computer color bitmap creation programs, called “Doodle,” for an initial price of $195.
The Microsoft Mouse has a pair of green buttons. As with other mice at the time, the Microsoft Mouse uses a steel ball for tracking. The Japanese company Alps Electric produced the mouse. The mouse followed the release onto market of another by Mouse Systems in 1982.
The initial version uses a DB-25 serial port. Later versions were available with an InPort ISA interface, requiring a Microsoft bus card to be installed in the computer or a DE-9 serial connector. All versions of the Microsoft Mouse could be used with MS-DOS compatible systems.