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Mouse Systems Corporation - Definition and Overview |
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Mouse Systems Corporation, formerly Rodent Associates, was founded in 1982 by Steve Kirsch, inventor of the optical mouse. In addition to being a vehicle for Kirsch's invention, the company was responsible for bringing the mouse to the IBM PC for the first time.
Like all early optical mice, their debut product relied on a special mousepad printed with a square grid of tracking lines: as the device moved over the pad, LED feedback was processed by an on-board microchip, which in turn supplied the PC with machine-readable tracking data via an RS-232 serial port. An external power supply was required.
In 1984 MSC released PC Paint, the first mouse-driven image manipulation program for the IBM PC. PC Paint was developed for the company by John Bridges. Millions of copies were shipped, primarily bundled with all their mice until the early 1990s. PC Paint saw limited commercial success as a standalone product.
KYE Systems, producer of the Genius brand of mice, acquired Mouse Systems in 1990.
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