Wednesday, April 2, 2008

A Brief History of Tablet PCs

In the late 1980s, early pen computer systems generated a lot of excitement and there was a time when it was thought they might eventually replace conventional computers with keyboards. Because everyone knows how to use a pen and pens are certainly less intimidating than keyboards.
Pen computers, as expected, in the 1980s, around the handwriting recognition. In the early 1980s, handwriting recognition was seen as an important future technology. Nobel Prize winner Dr. Charles Elbaum started Nestor and developed the handwriting Erkenner Writer Nestor. Communication Intelligence Corporation created hand Writer recognition, and there were many others.
In 1991, the pen-computing hype was at a peak. The pen was seen as a challenge to the mouse, and pen computers as a replacement for the desktop. Microsoft, see slates as a potentially serious competitor to Windows computers, announced Pen Extensions for Windows 3.1 and called them Windows for Pen Computing. Microsoft has made some bold predictions about the advantages and success of pen systems would take that another ten years to even begin to materialize. In 1992, products arrived. GO Corporation released PenPoint. Lexicus released Long& 39;s handwriting recognition. Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing. Between 1992 and 1994, a number of companies introduced hardware to run Windows for Pen Computing or PenPoint. Among them were EO, NCR, Samsung, Dauphin, Fujitsu, TelePad, Compaq, Toshiba and IBM. Few people remember that the original IBM ThinkPad was, as the name implies, slate computers.
The computer press was first excited, then very critical when pen-based computer does not sell. They measured pen computers against desktop PCs with Windows software and most of them found pen tablets difficult to use. It also criticized handwriting recognition, and said it did not work. After pen computer companies failed. Momenta closed in 1992. She had to US $ 40 million in the form of risk capital. Samsung and NCR is not new products. Pen pioneer GRiD was bought by AST for its manufacturing capacity. AST stopped all pen projects. Dauphin, which was developed by a businessman named Alan Korean Yong, went bankrupt because IBM over $ 40 million. GO was from AT & T, and AT & T closed the company in August 1994 (after the memorable " fax on the beach " TV spots). GO had lost almost US $ 70 million in the form of risk capital. Compaq, IBM, NEC, and Toshiba all stopped, consumer market pen products in the years 1994 and 1995.
By 1995, pen computing was dead in the consumer market. Microsoft has a half-hearted attempt, including " Pen " Services in Windows 95, but slate computers have gone away, at least in consumer markets. He lived in vertical and industrial markets. Companies such as Fujitsu Personal Systems, Husky, Telxon, Microscopy Late, Intermec, Symbol Technologies, Xplore and Walkabout manufactured and sold many pen tablet and pen slates.
That, however, was not the end of pen computing. Bill Gates had always been a believer in technology, and you can see slate computers in a variety of Microsoft & 39; " Computing in the future " presentations over the years. Once again Microsoft Pen-based computers as " " Tablet PC in 2002, slate and notebook convertibles a comeback, and new companies such as Motion Computing joined the core of vertical and industrial market slate computer specialists.
The main reason why the Microsoft Tablet PC specification is quite successful, while earlier attempts were not has two reasons. First, the technology required for a pen slate simply was not there in the early 1990s. And secondly, the pen visionaries & 39; idea to replace keyboard input with handwriting (and voice) recognition proved to be more difficult than expected. There were actually some very good detection programs that are still used today, but they require a good education and the degree of customization. Not only can you scribble on the screen and the computer magically understands everything. With the Tablet PC, Microsoft downplayed handwriting recognition in favor of digital ink " " as a new data type. This was a very wise decision. ebony fearless



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