Final answer:
The computer mouse was invented in the 1960s by Douglas Engelbart. It greatly influenced the personal computing industry, leading to intuitive graphical user interfaces in computers like the Apple Macintosh in 1984, thereby making computer interactions more user-friendly.
Step-by-step explanation:
The computer mouse was a groundbreaking innovation that fundamentally changed the way users interact with computers. Its development period indeed marked an evolutionary point in the history of personal computing. The correct answer to when the computer mouse was invented is in the 1960s. Developed by Douglas Engelbart and his team at the Stanford Research Institute in 1963, the mouse was a part of the broader project that aimed to augment human intellect, which included developing new ways to interact with digital information. Over time, a graphical user interface (GUI), featuring the potential of the mouse, was incorporated into personal computers, with Apple's Macintosh in 1984 being a notable example that helped popularize the mouse with its user-friendly GUI.
The transformative effect of the computer mouse and GUIs drove the computer industry to a more intuitive way of operating systems, away from text-based commands, leading to the widespread adoption of personal computers in the 1980s. The legacy of this invention still underpins today's user experiences in nearly every modern computing device we interact with.