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From: garye@microsoft.UUCP (Gary ERICSON)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures,comp.sys.laptops
Subject: Re: Sony Palmtop w/char recognition - Ultimate Laptop?
Message-ID: <54020@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 10 Apr 90 01:30:40 GMT
References: <18720@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <1463@uvm-gen.UUCP> <19307@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Reply-To: garye@microsoft.UUCP (Gary ERICSON)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 31

>Not to mention the even larger marketplace of poor typists throughout
>the world!

I agree that a handwriting interface could be very important for oriental
languages with huge character sets, and that it could also help those who
can't type or who are computerphobics largely because of the keyboard
interface, but I think everyone keeps missing a much more important point.  

I've read and heard many people saying that it would be handy to have
computing power in a carry-around size.  But in the same breath, palmtops
are decried because they are too small.  Why?  Because it's too difficult
to type on a keyboard so tiny.  And then when a new palmtop comes out with
a non-keyboard interface, it's only discussed from the point of generically
comparing a keyboard and handwriting interface.  And then, of course, the
handwriting interface is pushed off in some specialized corner because, of
course, typing is much more efficient than writing by hand.

It seems to me, though, that the revolution here comes from the fact that a
handwriting interface is *much better* in a handheld size like this than a
tiny keyboard would be.  I think that when people begin realizing this,
these devices are going to explode in popularity.  Not because it's good
for non-typists or strictly pictorial languages, but because it finally
opens the door to computers you can carry in your pocket.

>>Definitely an interesting development.

>Definitely an understatement.

Most definitely.

Gary Ericson - Microsoft - Work Group Apps