Software Makers Push Power of the Pen : Technology: Two competitors are expected to unveil pen-based computer systems in the next few weeks.
The march toward full-powered notebook computers, capable of translating handwritten scribbles into computerized text, is picking up steam.
Go Corp., a Silicon Valley start-up, is set to unveil today a potentially revolutionary computer operating system that allows people to use a computer in the same way they use a paper note pad: with an electronic “pen” and touch-sensitive screen.
Next month, Microsoft, the powerhouse of the PC software industry, is prepared to unwrap the software underpinnings that will allow users to substitute an electronic pen for the traditional keyboard or mouse when working with many of its current PC programs.
To be sure, much work remains. Neither announcement is expected to result in a consumer product for at least 10 months. Handwriting recognition itself is still rudimentary and error-prone. Most systems recognize only carefully printed letters and can misread about one word in five.
Furthermore, prices of the earliest models--at least $5,000--are more within the checkbook range of corporate buyers and affluent professionals than average consumers.
Nevertheless, analysts remain convinced that these new computers offer tremendous potential, both as an add-on option for current PCs and to computerize the work of dozens of groups of mobile and on-their-feet employees for whom traditional desktop PCs are impractical. Potential users, they say, include traveling sales forces, inspectors, insurance adjusters and such mobile professionals as lawyers, nurses and financial advisers.
One analyst has forecast annual sales of $12 billion by the end of the century. Another says notebook computers equipped with pens will account for 40% of all portable computer sales by 1993.
“We see the potential as similar to what it was for the personal computer just 10 years ago,” says Jerry Kaplan, chairman of Go Corp. in San Mateo. “It’s that big.”
Rather than the traditional keyboard and screen, computers based on the Go system will consist of a simple flat screen, slightly larger than a legal pad and about two inches thick. Computer commands will be written directly on the touch-sensitive screen, and the system will recognize English words and a series of simple symbols.
Although Go at one time had intended to market a handwriting-recognition computer as well as its internal software, the company later decided to focus solely on writing an operating system that could be licensed to computer makers. International Business Machines, Grid Systems and NCR Corp. are the first Go licensees. An operating system is software that controls the basic operations of a computer. Other programs can be written to work with a given operating system.
Go is now focusing on enticing software publishers and writers to develop programs for its system. Because Go’s new Penpoint system is a completely new operating system, it will not use software written for standard IBM-compatible computers using the DOS operating system. However, the operating system will be able to read and write DOS files, communicate with non-Go computers and attach to computer networks.
While Go engineers concluded that they needed an entirely new operating system to take full advantage of the way a pen can be used, Microsoft developers took a radically different approach.
The Microsoft handwriting recognition program, due for unveiling Feb. 21, is an extension of its popular Windows operating system. In essence, Microsoft’s Pen Windows will allow users to substitute an electronic pen for a keyboard or mouse when using any Windows-compatible program.
Microsoft officials said their approach is designed to extend the reach of Windows and provide a maximum connection between work conducted on a portable machine and desktop systems.
