The Mother of All Demos is American inventor, Douglas Engelbart’s 1968 demonstration of experimental computer technologies that are now commonplace. The live demonstration featured the introduction of the computer mouse, video conferencing, teleconferencing, email, hypertext, word processing, object addressing, and a collaborative real-time editor. Engelbart, with the help of his geographically distributed team, demonstrated the workings of the NLS (which stood for oNLine System) to the 1,000 computer professionals in attendance. The project was the result of work done at SRI International’s Augmentation Research Center.
The term ‘Mother of All Demos’ references ‘The Mother of All Battles,’ a name used by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to describe the 1991 Gulf War; the term ‘the mother of all’ subsequently became a widely used stock phrase or snowclone.
The Daily Omnivore 