The 1980s and 90s
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The
1980s and '90s
In
the 1980s, manufacturers put renewed emphasis on the quest for a device that
could recognize handwriting, relying on a stylus for input. During this period,
companies like Pencept and the Communication
Intelligence Corporation made inroads into that technology; in 1988, Wang
Laboratories offered Freestyle, a "digitizing tablet" that allowed users to
hand-write or annotate on any computer screen, using a stylus to drag elements
around the desktop.
A
year later, GRiD Systems Corporation released the GRiDpad touch-screen
computer. Also in the late 1980s, GO Corporation began working on PenPoint OS,
a stylus-based operating system it would introduce to the public in 1991.
During
this period, Apple also took its first steps into the tablet PC arena. In 1987,
the company-then still known as Apple Computer, Inc.-produced some glossy concept videos for a
device called Knowledge Navigator. Folding on a hinge like a conventional
notebook, the tablet featured a talking avatar and the ability to recognize and
respond to a user's speech. As a concept, it was even more futuristic than was Kubrick's
vision, but Apple was also working on something much more real world: the
Newton project, which bore fruit in 1993, with the launch of a handheld device
capable of handwriting recognition.
Even
though Apple CEO Steve Jobs would end up killing the Newton in 1997, the device
retains a cult following. Whether organizing a "to do" list or cycling through
contacts, Newton represented yet another take on the same vision posited by
PenPoint OS and the similar software emerging at that time: the ability to
manipulate digital assets in ways familiar to anyone who ever used a pen and
paper.
For
at least the last year of its official life, the Newton also found itself
locked in competition with Palm, perhaps the most famous early producer of
PDAs. Powered by Palm OS, the devices relied on a stylus-supported graphical
interface.
Microsoft
was also exploring touch technology, eventually releasing Windows for Pen
Computing for Windows 3.1x as a sort of counterstrike to the PenPoint OS. The
company would continue to update the software throughout the 1990s. Years
later, Microsoft found itself the target of lawsuits alleging it had tried to
destroy Go Corporation in the early 1990s.
