Computers: The Year of the Mouse

Apple's long-awaited Lisa ushers in a new era of easy computing

It actually looks a bit like a mouse, with its rounded corners, off-white color and thin wire tail. The size of a pack of cigarettes, it fits snugly into the palm of the hand. Slide it across a table and electric signals go down its 2-ft. tail. Plug that tail into a computer, and the mouse directs the movement of a pointer on a video screen. The result: a device that can bypass the thicket of codes, commands and complicated keyboards that have plagued...