Octopodes.
Actually, it’s the other way around. Normally in English a new use for a word that has an irregular plural is given a regular plural. The natural way to extend computer mouse would be computer mouses.
It didn’t happen here, probably because slang trumps normality.
HIDs.
Dan
Yes, if we followed the Greek Plurals, but we don’t. Better than Octopi, but Octopuses is correct.
Yep.
English-ish, by analogy with “children”, “brethren”, “oxen”, and “Vaxen”. Though of course English originally got the -en plural ending from its Germanic roots.
So far as I know, “octopus” has never had any other standard, accepted English plural.
There’s precedent. Old, burned-out stars are “white dwarfs”, but short, bearded miners are “dwarves”. And multiple walking sticks are “staves”, but multiple administrative groups are “staffs”. Insects have antennae, but TVs have antennas.
In Hebrew, there is even a special plural form for things that come in pairs, roughly equivalent to saying in English “a pair of _______”.
I’ve been a computer/network/server support professional for more than 20 years, and also worked as a salesman and manager for a computer store prior to my professional IT career. I also grew up with computers, used to help my dad when he was a computer consultant in my teen years, volunteered to run my school’s computer tech lab in high school. I was even a Computer Explorer Scout (the nerdiest branch of Boy Scouts ever).
I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone call them “computer mouses”.
Just looked it up.
Google gives 266,000 results for “computer mouses” but 7,810,000 for “computer mice.”
I’m using a trackball right now, and have for decades. They are still quite popular, especially if you have limited desktop space or want to reduce RSIs.
I remember a similar joke about the word “mongoose.” It ended with the guy writing a letter: “Please send me one mongoose – and, while you’re at it, send me another one.”
There’s a poll in the poll thread.
Absolutely. They’re the best solution for me.
How about some old issues of PC Magazine?
Not according to Walt Disney or Terry Pratchett.
I order trackball devices often when employees request them or an ergonomist recommends one. They’re still very much in use, they just haven’t “taken over”. (Nor should they, mostly they address specific ergonomic issues some people experience.)
Much less common, what I’ve only dealt with once, is a foot mouse.
It’s as weird as it sounds. It was vaguely reminiscent of a sewing machine foot pedal, except there were a couple of them. You slid a pedal around one with your foot and clicked by pushing down on it; another pedal could be tilted to act like a scroll wheel. When I first saw it I thought it was a joke.
The lady who had it never used it though, it was too hard for her.
Question for the “Mice” side- why do you want to cling to a outmoded irregular plural? Most have gone out of usage, why not let mice and geese go bye bye also?
Same reason, I’m guessing, as you prefer using “a” where the rest of us use “an”: “mouses” just feels wrong.
Do you trust Walt Disney over JRR Tolkien?
I vote for one being “mouse” but plural being “computer rodents”. 
The simple answer is because that’s the plural already in use for “mouse.” Why create a new one, when there’s a perfectly usable alternative that sounds natural and not jarring to English speakers like “mouses” does. Mind you, I preferred the “mouses” plural myself when talking about computer peripherals, but it seems intuitive to me why most people wouldn’t like the sound of it.