Pen Operating Systems Up And Ready To Go
Sydney Morning Herald
Sunday April 26, 1992
GO CORP has finally released its long-awaited PenPoint operating system for pen-based notebooks, scaffolded by a gang of hardware manufacturers and software developers, many with shelf-ready products.
IBM has become one of the first vendors to ship hardware - its 3 kg ThinkPad - but only to commercial and corporate developers to start with.
The ThinkPad sports an 80386SX 20-MHz processor and comes in two models that offer either 4 megabytes (MB) or 8 MB of memory. Rather than hard conventional hard disk storage, IBM ThinkPads offer up to 20 MB of removable solid-state storage cards.
The IBM system has a backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) with VGA resolution and a rechargeable nickel cadmium battery package with a three-hour charge life.
IBM said the price would be competitive. It expected general availability by the end of 1992 by which time it might also support OS/2 2.0.
Both GO and IBM announced third-party support programs. Other companies announcing products included NEC and Toshiba. NCR and GRiD are expected to have hardware available in the next three months.
New software included a range of applications, communications and handwriting recognition products.
Although the largest market is expected to be for industry-specific applications, some developers are working on personal productivity tools or, in the case of PenCROSS, nonproductivity tools.
* Ink Development announced InkWare NoteTaker, the first notetaker for pen computers; and InkWare Photo, a digital photography application for PenPoint computers.
* Notable Technologies announced PenLiner, an intelligent outliner; and PenCROSS, an innovative adaptation of the familiar crossword puzzle.
* PenMagic announced Numero, a financial work processor that enables mobile users to complete a wide variety of financial tasks on the go.
* PenStuff has FinancialStuff, its second pen-based financial analysis package.
Industry-specific applications covered loan origination, property appraisal and title search aspects of the mortgage lending process; law enforcement, fire and health care procedures for emergency services workers; an automated notepad for doctors; an electronic notebook for pharmacists and geographic mapping applications.
© 1992 Sydney Morning Herald