There are only a few days in the history of computing when it is safe to say that everything changed for a certain type of product. On April 19, 1999, it did happen with PC mice. This is Microsoft’s date, 25 years ago today debuted its latest mouse, the IntelliMouse Explorer.
In case you may not be familiar with why the IntelliMouse Explorer is so important in the development of PC accessories, the IntelliMouse Explorer was the first made for the home computer market with an optical sensor. Although it wasn’t the first mouse product with this kind of technology, the IntelliMouse Explorer was certainly the first to have an optical sensor instead of the usual embedded mouse ball aimed at a mass market audience.
Microsoft, of course, has been designing and manufacturing computer mouse products for a long time before that. Microsoft’s first mouse went on sale in May 1983. It also announced the The first product in its Intellimouse series in July 1996This mouse was one of the first to include a scroll wheel, and it quickly became a standard feature on future mice from other accessory manufacturers.
However, the addition of the scroll wheel was just a prelude to what Microsoft wanted to put into the IntelliMouse Explorer. The optical sensor technology used was first developed by Agilent Technologies, which at the time was a subsidiary of HP, before being spun off into its own company in 1999.
Microsoft called its version of the optical sensor technology IntelliEye. Here’s how it described the hardware that went into the first IntelliMouse Explorer from its press release:
IntelliEye uses an optical sensor to capture high-resolution digital images at a rate of 1,500 images per second. A built-in digital signal processor compares these images and translates changes into pointer movements on the screen. This technique, called image correlation processing, performs 18 million instructions per second (MIPS) and results in smoother and more accurate pointer movement. Current mice only perform about 1.5 MIPS, making a mouse with Microsoft IntelliEye 12 times smarter than regular mice.
Of course, putting an optical sensor instead of using the older technology of a physical mouse ball inside most computer mouse products was a massive change. People didn’t have to worry about the ball getting dirty or broken. The Intellieye optical sensor in the IntelliMouse Explorer has solved many problems for most PC mouse owners. In addition, the IntelliMouse Explorer included a small light on the back of the mouse to emphasize that this is a very different product.
In addition to the optical sensor, the IntelliMouse Explorer also had two additional buttons besides its two main buttons and the scroll wheel. These two extra buttons on the left are specially designed for use with web browsers, default with forward and backward functions, they can also be remapped for use for other computer features such as printing, copying text and more.
Microsoft sold the IntelliMouse Explorer later in 1999 for $74.95 (about $150 in today’s dollars). He also sold the original Intellimouse design with the IntelliEye sensor for $54.95. It didn’t take long for the older tracking mouse products sold by other companies to quietly become obsolete and no longer sold.
Microsoft continued to release new IntelliMouse and Intellimouse Explorer mouse products over the next few years. This included the release of IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 in 2006. It used the original IntelliMouse Explorer design but included a much faster 9,000 fps sensor, along with other features made specifically for PC gaming.
After a hiatus of over a decade, the company brought back the IntellMouse brand with the Microsoft Classic IntelliMouse in 2017, followed by the Microsoft Pro IntelliMouse in 2019.
These will be the last products in the IntelliMouse series. As you may be aware, Microsoft has decided to no longer manufacture or sell its mouse and keyboard accessories in 2023. However, earlier this year Incase announced that it has acquired the rights to manufacture and sell a number of Microsoft-designed computer accessories. including mouse products. Maybe Incase will include the Intellimouse as one of the revamped products one day.