Let's Double Click on That - Corporate Jargon History Series

Have you ever wondered where the corporate buzzword "Let's double click on that" originated from? Let's take a journey through the history of this funny saying, starting from its humble beginnings with the invention of the mouse.

The Invention of the Mouse and oN-Line System

In 1964, Doug Engelbart, an American engineer, invented the computer mouse as a pointing device for his revolutionary oN-Line System (NLS). This early version of the mouse had two buttons, allowing users to interact with the graphical user interface of the NLS system. Engelbart partnered with Bill English to design the mouse - prior to it's invention, people interacted with computers through keyboard and typed commands. Engelbart himself was inspired by Vannevar Bush's article "As We May Think", inspiring him to create an entire an entire system whose ideas led to advances such as: on screen graphics, document sharing, email, videoconferencing, and hypertext links, among others.

Xerox PARC and the Graphical User Interface

Fast forward to the 1970s, Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) developed the Alto, a pioneering computer with a graphical user interface (GUI) that featured windows, icons, and menus. Inspired by NLS, this innovative interface laid the foundation for modern computing and introduced the concept of double clicking to open files and applications.

The Mac User Interface

In 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh computer, which popularized the graphical user interface GUI for the masses. The Mac user interface incorporated the double-click action as a standard way to open files and launch programs, making it a familiar and intuitive interaction for users. You may have heard the famous story of Steve Job's visit to Xeroc PARC, during which Xerox demonstrated the GUI to the Apple team. Jobs and the Apple team would expand upon the innovation of Xerox, building consumer ready versions of what they had seen at Xerox PARC.

In essence, double clicking became the de-facto way to drill down a level into a folder, or see the contents of a file. This was due in part to Job's insistence that a mouse only have one button!

The Early Internet and Double Clicking

As the internet began to take shape in the 1990s, the act of double-clicking made it's way to navigating websites and interacting with online content. Indeed, in early days, many user still double-clicked on hyperlinks to access web pages and multimedia content, leading to unintended consequences of actions sometimes firing twice! Indeed, to this day, many analytics and reporting tools have a double click action to allow a user to drill down to the next level of detail.

So, the next time you find yourself saying "Let's double click on that," remember the rich history behind this simple yet powerful computer command. From Doug Engelbart's pioneering work to the widespread adoption of the double-click action in modern computing, the evolution of this phrase is a testament to the continuous innovation and evolution of technology.

And if you've been inspired, remember you can always celebrate the inspiration behind "Let's double click on that" with a funny mug