Handwriting recognition is commonly used as an input method for PDAs. The first PDA to provide written input was the Apple Newton, which exposed the public to the advantage of a streamlined user interface. However, the device was not a commercial success, owing to the unreliability of the software, which tried to learn a user's writing patterns. By the time of the release of the Newton OS 2.0, wherein the handwriting recognition was greatly improved, including unique features still not found in current recognition systems such as modeless error correction, the largely negative first impression had been made.
Another effort was Go's tablet computer using Go's Penpoint operating system and manufactured by various hardware makers such as NCR and IBM. IBM's ThinkPad tablet computer was based on Penpoint operating system and used IBM's handwriting recognition. This recognition system was later ported to Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing, and IBM's Pen for OS/2. None of these were commercially successful.
Palm later launched a successful series of PDAs based on the Graffiti® recognition system. Graffiti improved usability by defining a set of pen strokes for each character. This narrowed the possibility for erroneous input, although memorization of the stroke patterns did increase the learning curve for the user.
We continue our talk on online handwriting recognition in next post.
ref: agency management system, Insurance Software, Document Organizer, wikipedia
