Douglas Engelbart’s 1968 demo was known as “The Mother of All Demos”, was a game-changer for computing. Before this, computers were just seen as giant calculators, but Engelbart and his team at SRI introduced a completely new vision—showcasing the mouse, graphical interfaces, hypertext, collaborative editing, and even video conferencing. I think what made this demo so important was that it shifted computing from pure data processing to human interaction.
Engelbart’s focus is on making computers truly useful for human thought and collaboration. From my point of view, the biggest breakthrough in this demo was that it proved computers weren’t just tools for scientists and engineers, but something that could help everyone organize ideas, manage information, and even collaborate remotely. This shift in perspective directly paved the way for laying the foundation for how we interact with technology today.
Another reason I feel this demo was so ahead of its time was because of the concept of real-time interaction. Back in the 1960s, most computers worked on batch processing, meaning users had to input commands and wait for the results later. Engelbart’s demo completely changed that by showing live manipulation of text, real-time screen sharing, and even remote collaboration, all things that have now become standard in modern operating systems and online workspaces. I think this was one of the biggest leaps toward the interactive, intuitive computing experience we rely on today.
I feel like almost everything we do today—scrolling on a phone, editing Google Docs, or making a Zoom call—can be traced back to the concepts demonstrated in this single event.