Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!microsoft!alonzo
From: alonzo@microsoft.UUCP (Alonzo GARIEPY)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: Microsoft Pen Windows
Keywords: go microsoft stylus notebook windows
Message-ID: <71429@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 21 Mar 91 14:01:12 GMT
References: <71390@microsoft.UUCP> <71416@microsoft.UUCP>
Reply-To: alonzo@microsoft.UUCP (Alonzo GARIEPY)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 30

In article <71416@microsoft.UUCP> garye@microsoft.UUCP (Gary ERICSON) writes:
> 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.

His approach seems similar to Microsoft's.  Graphical user interfaces were
invented to alleviate the problems of purely textual interfaces, and the
the pen doesn't change that.  Applications can make some subtle changes to 
take advantage of the pen's ability to enter text and commands positionally, 
but usage of the pen in existing forms, buttons, lists, and checkboxes comes 
naturally.

> 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.

Go has also said they will allow that.  Given the importance they place on
recognition, you would expect that this feature is roughly equivalent to 
swapping keyboards to support different alphabets or layout preferences.

My guess is that the key features of tablet computers to start will be price, 
size, display quality, available software, weight, memory, secondary storage, 
battery life, and pen quality.  In other words, the hardware has a long way 
to go before it catches up with a pad of paper.

Alonzo Gariepy			// The opinions expressed in this message are
alonzo@microsoft		// mine and not those of Microsoft Corporation