MSFT will dominate Palm PC OS, part VI
To offset the Palm Pilot's lack of keyboard, its operating system has a quasi-handwriting
recognition system called Graffiti built into it. It does not recognize cursive script--only a
special form of hand printing that the would-be user must first take half an hour or so to learn.
If dissatisfied with Graffiti, the user can add the T9 software from Tegic Communications to
obtain another form of keyboard-less data input. T9 displays a telephone-like keypad on the
Pilot's touch-sensitive screen for alphanumeric input. When a key is touched, the software
uses its linguistic database to decide what letter is being entered; in more detail, the database
ascertains what the likeliest combination of letters is suggested by the input, and tells the unit
how to interpret that input. Not only is T9 available for the Palm Pilot, but it comes with Texas
Instruments' Avigo, which is based on a proprietary operating system. Naturally enough, the
software is also finding its way into cellular smart phones, as well as set-top boxes, since it
can work with a telephone keypad instead of a touch-sensitive display.
Even though it is larger, Windows CE does not have handwriting recognition built in. Instead,
it supports the keyboard for native data entry and Note Taker for recording bit maps of
handwriting and free-form drawings.
Nonetheless, software from other vendors provides CE with different ways to enter data. One
package--Jot, from Computer Intelligence Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif.--lets CE machines
recognize handwriting much as Graffiti does. Computer Intelligence also offers Quick Notes
Pro, which lets the user capture handwriting and drawings as Note Taker does, but which
compresses them and makes it easier to sort and organize notes.
In creating new programs for CE, developers utilize a subset of the Win32 application
programming interface, which is familiar to anyone who writes programs for Windows 95 or
NT. Thus Microsoft is leveraging its existing developers to ensure there is a lot of software
for its Windows CE. It claims that over 1000 developers enrolled in its Windows CE technical
beta program. Development tools for Windows CE are also widely used; they include Visual
Basic, Visual C++, and Visual J++.
To induce system developers to devise the hardware needed to get things rolling, Microsoft
has issued a suite of CE software. For the Palm PC, there is Pocket Outlook, a CE version of
the Microsoft Outlook 97 that lets users manage contacts, calendars, tasks, and e-mail.
Other software captures voice notes (Voice Recorder). Add in Mobile Channels software for
off-line viewing of World Wide Web content, downloaded to the CE machine from a PC.
Microsoft also has a number of Pocket versions of programs from Office--Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint--aimed at CE machines like the HP Palmtop with built-in keyboards. |
