If you've ever wondered why a mouse cursor is pointing to the left, well, today you'll get an explanation, if you didn't already know it. The idea of displaying a mouse cursor in an inclined position it was born over three decades ago in the development center of Xerox, the company from which Steve Jobs stole the mouse. Because then the monitors had very low resolution, the cursor of a mouse could not be visualized easily, so the decision was made to tilt it to the left.
When the graphical user interface was later developed by Xerox, however, the team found that the vertical pointer was almost impossible to see due to the low resolution displays in use at the time. Rather than making the pointer larger, the decision was made to turn it 45 degrees, making it easy to see. Despite the high resolution displays we have today, the concept has managed to stick for 33 years.
In Mac OS, the mouse came directly tilted thanks to the ideas of those from Xerox, and for 33 years the way it is displayed for users has not changed, although Microsoft offers the option to change the direction of tilt.
