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From: garye@microsoft.UUCP (Gary ERICSON)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: Microsoft Pen Windows
Keywords: go microsoft stylus notebook windows
Message-ID: <71416@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 20 Mar 91 21:32:02 GMT
References: <71390@microsoft.UUCP>
Reply-To: garye@microsoft.UUCP (Gary ERICSON)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 45

In article <71390@microsoft.UUCP> alonzo@microsoft.UUCP (Alonzo GARIEPY) writes:
>[from one message]
>> From what I have read, Pen Windows will not include any handwriting 
>> recognition software, forcing programmers to write their own.
>
>What you read was incorrect.  Microsoft has recognition software that was 
>openly described and demonstrated long before the article in question.  
>Three or four other companies have also announced their intention to 
>provide handwriting recognition modules for Microsoft Pen Windows, and
>one has already demonstrated a prototyope.

I thought I had heard that one neat feature was allowing anyone to bolt in
their own handwriting recognition software (there are several types of
techniques that people have used).  Can Go's system do that?  I'd expect
so.

>Personally, I am really keen on the idea of a pen-driven handheld.  The
>size of computers is limited by the keyboard, and the smallest machines
>typically have poor keyboards.  Typing on a proper keyboard is still the
>method of choice for inputting large amounts of textual information, but
>I think handwriting is better than hunting and pecking on a calculator 
>or pocket organizer.

I agree with this (and have for a few years now).  That's one of the
reasons pocket computers haven't caught on: the keyboard's too small.  You
really shouldn't be using a keyboard on that size device.

>Screen real-estate and bulk are the real problems 
>with handheld computers, and the way to deal with them is by eliminating 
>keyboards.  

Yep.  Again, it's nice to see manufacturer's attitudes, along with the
technology, come around to this way of thinking.

I really liked what the president of Go said in an interview.  He pointed
out that we have the wrong idea if we focus on handwriting recognition in a
device like this.  He said that the key will be forms and check boxes and,
especially, gestures to communicate with the computer.  If the software is
designed correctly for a stylus, the need for really elaborate handwriting
recognition should be low.

>Alonzo Gariepy		// The opinions here are mine and do not in any 
>alonzo@microsoft	// way represent those of Microsoft Corporation.

Gary Ericson - Microsoft - Work Group Apps