A Pen That Stands In for a PC Keyboard

Imagine a portable computer the size and shape of a notebook. Its entire face is a screen, on which one enters information directly by writing or sketching with a pen-like stylus. No keyboard, no mouse and no complicated computerese to learn. If you can write, you can use this new tool.

This extravagant vision is at the heart of a new computing revolution--pen-based computing--that is likely to have an even greater impact on business life than the introduction of the personal computer just over a decade ago. This revolution was kicked off last month with the announcement of a new pen-based operating system from Go Corp. of Foster City, Calif., but it is not a one-company trend.

Over the next year, we will see a stream of announcements from companies developing pen-based computers, operating systems and specialized software applications.

Just as the earliest personal computers did not live up to user expectations, the first pen-based systems will leave many would-be buyers grumbling. The biggest problem will be the character recognition software that turns a user’s scribbles into computer-readable text. Even carefully printed characters can be misinterpreted by current systems, and recognition of true connected script remains little more than a distant hope.

This problem, plus the sheer expense of the first systems, make it likely that manufacturers such as IBM will target their pen-based computers at teams of “mobile professionals”--sales teams, insurance adjusters and the like. This will allow designers to minimize character recognition weaknesses by tailoring applications to specific tasks (like order entry), thus limiting what the computer must expect from the pen-wielding user.

In the long run, robust character recognition will be far less important than it seems today. The presence of a stylus matters less than the absence of a keyboard when it comes to making pen-based computing a general-purpose reality. Keyboards are awkward to use anywhere except on a desktop. Eliminate them and entirely new kinds of computing devices become possible.

For example, imagine a pen-based computer with a built-in cellular modem that allows users to send and receive faxes without ever plugging into a phone line. This is less an input than a communications device that also allows the user to compose and revise documents on-screen before they are dispatched to some distant destination. The same device could also become the platform for an automated “communications robot,” keeping its owner in touch with electronic mail and information from his or her office.

Pen-based computers are certain to come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and prices from cheap vest-pocket calendar-notetakers to pricey desk-sized monsters. Pen-based machines will reach to users who never thought of fussing with a personal computer, particularly to executives so far missed by the PC revolution. Before the decade is out, pen-based machines will become unremarkable and essential business tools.

But pen-based computers will not make the keyboard obsolete. Even the fastest scribbler can’t match a moderately skilled typist for sheer speed when it comes to entering new material. The real value of a pen-based system will lie not in the entry but the revision and manipulation of text and graphics. In the end, keyboards will remain commonplace on our desktops, while pen-based systems proliferate everywhere else. The pen is not mightier than the keyboard, but it is profoundly different, and full of business surprises for the decade ahead.