Stanton Firm’s Light Pens Move Simpson Trial Cursors : Computers: Stylus and touch pad makers offer competitive alternatives to mouse and trackball systems.
Like so many people, employees at FTG Data Systems of Stanton are fixated on the O.J. Simpson trial. But they don’t care so much about the dramatic testimony--what really interests them are the pens in the hands of the lawyers.
Instead of employing the common mouse to manipulate computer-generated displays of evidence on video screens, prosecutors and defense lawyers are using light pens that FTG built and donated. For example, when the lawyers want to call up a picture of a piece of evidence, they use FTG’s PenDirect to write directly on the computer screen or to move the cursor to execute functions.
So far, the light pen being used in the Simpson trial has not generated a noticeable increase in sales for the Orange County company, but FTG is hoping that its use will spark increased exposure as the trial proceeds.
“People will become aware of how light pens are used and that they are much easier to use than a mouse,” said Elaine Vannoy, FTG’s marketing coordinator.
“It does not require a lot of dexterity for the user,” adds Ron Zayas, FTG’s marketing director. “And because it is a pen, people find it easier and quicker.”
The pen is part of a growing movement in the computer industry to find an alternative to the mouse and trackball systems that today control cursor movements for most of the country’s computers. Many computer users have found them difficult to master. The mouse, which the user rolls along a flat surface, requires clear space on often cluttered desks. With a trackball, the user manipulates a ball with the palm of the hand.
There are sci-fi ideas like cursors that follow eye movement, but in the here and now the main contender to replace mouses and trackballs is probably the “touch pad”--a small, flat pad along which a user slides a finger to move a cursor and taps to complete a function. Vying too is the TrackPoint II, a small red pillar introduced by International Business Machines Corp. on its ThinkPad laptop. Jutting up from between the centrally located G, H and B keys, it is generally pushed with the index finger to move the cursor.
According to a new report by computer market researcher BIS Strategic Decisions, the enthusiasm for notebook computers is bringing change in consumer tastes in pointers. Without a desk on which to place a mouse, notebook makers have been forced to come up with alternatives.
BIS predicts the touch pad will prevail, with 70% of notebook computers changing over to it by 1998. Currently, said Randy Giusto of BIS, touch pads represent 20% of that market, while trackball-type devices account for 70%.
The BIS report predicts that after winning in the mobile market, the touch pads will muscle into the desktop market. They may also work other electronic devices, BIS expects, such as TV viewers using them to program videocassette recorders.
Apple Computer Inc. was the first major player to put touch pads in its computers--Apple calls them Trackpads--by building them into its 520 and 540 PowerBook models last year. Now Epson America Inc. and others are rolling out touch pads on IBM-compatible notebooks, using mostly a version designed by Synaptics Inc.
Apple is pleased with its results and customer response, said spokeswoman Kristin Brownstone, and may use them in other Apple computers, “but if people still want the mouse, it’ll be there too.”
FTG’s Zayas disagrees. He predicted the mouse will become extinct as people discover devices such as the pen and touch pad. He said the company is now talking with Apple about including a pen in its future desk conferencing packages.
