The Pen Is Mightier Than The Keyboard
The Sun Herald
Sunday January 27, 1991
PERSONAL computers operated by a pen rather than a keyboard or a mouse are finally on the way.
By 1995, according to many industry analysts, millions of people who are now unable or unwilling to use PCs will carry a pen-based computer in their pocket, briefcase or car glovebox.
The advent of pen-based computing is expected to open up huge new markets for both hardware and software developers. IBM, NCR Microsoft, Lotus, WordPerfect and Borland are among those who have endorsed the concept and are already scrambling to produce their first pen-based products.
Apple Computer is also believed to be preparing to develop extensions to its new System 7.0 for the Macintosh which would allow a wireless pen to be used with the Mac.
The pen-based computing movement received its biggest impetus yet last week when Go Corporation, a $30 million Californian company, unveiled PenPoint, a totally new operating system which will make it all possible.
Microsoft is expected to preview a rival system called Pen Windows next month and to have it available for software development later in the year. No pen-based PCs are yet ready for the market, but the first are expected later this year.
A prototype shown to the press by Go executives last year was slate-shaped and weighed less than 2kg. Its screen had a graphical interface resembling a spiral-bound notebook. The notebook was organised into "pages", outlined in a"table of contents".
Users can organise and access files or open programs with the stroke of the wireless pen and enter data in hand-printed characters.
By 1995, according to Go, pen computers will be capable of recognising normal cursive script, or "running writing". So far only prototype machines have been shown.
IBM announced last year that it had decided to license the Go system and was pushing ahead with development of handheld machines.
This was a blow for Microsoft, which had been pressing IBM to endorse its PenWindows technology. The Go and Microsoft approaches are fundamentally different.
Pen Windows is an extension to Microsoft's existing Windows 3.0 graphical interface, which runs on conventional PCs. Users would be able to run normal DOS and Windows programs, as well as new "pen-enhanced" software.
However Go Corp founder Jerry Kaplan argues that the technology is so radical that the operating system must be totally new, designed specifically to exploit the pen.
PenPoint will require the development of completely new programs for tasks like word processing, spread-sheeting or databases. But Go executives say the PenPoint programs will be able to read and write DOS files.
Who needs a pen-based computer?
One natural market could be the home, but most early marketing efforts will be directed at business and blue-collar users, particularly those habitually on the move.
According to Dan Lewin, Go Corporation vice president, about 25 million people in the US do a fair amount of their work away from their desk.
"But they can't use a keyboard-driven device in many situations. Laptop computers are not a suitable solution: they're really just a shrunken desktop computer. Flipping up a screen and typing at a company meeting is just not acceptable.
"Think about people selling insurance or doing consulting work, or walking around a car doing an inspection-it's not physically practical to be punching keys. But using a pen is deft and totally acceptable. And everyone knows how to do it."
He predicted that by 1995 there would be a wide range of handheld pen-based computers on the market, ranging from 500-gram mini-models for a few hundred dollars, up to 3kg super-machines with 100 megabytes of storage for $US3,000.
They would incorporate a telephone, pager, cellular radio, fax machine and wireless electronic mail connections: a complete on-the-road office small enough to sit on the palm of your hand. And they would be able to recognise neat cursive writing, where today's prototypes were limited to printed characters.
Lewin also predicted a new class of electronic books using PenPoint technology.
"There's a market opportunity for manufacturers to develop models for students and other young users," he said.
"They will become mobile books in which you will be able not only to peruse information but to manipulate it and link it to many other devices."
Will the concept really catch on? Lewin has no doubts.
"Many computing luminaries have been pushing for the ideal of a computer on every desktop," he said.
"We see it in terms of a computer in every other hand."
© 1991 The Sun Herald
Share This