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From: mccoy@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Jim Mccoy)
Subject: Re: the interface for the rest of us?
Message-ID: <1991May4.172440.1851@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>
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References: <9105021606.AA26962@lti2.lti.uucp> <1991May3.204023.6661@ico.isc.com>
Date: Sat, 4 May 1991 17:24:40 GMT
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In article <1991May3.204023.6661@ico.isc.com>, rcd@ico.isc.com (Dick Dunn) writes:
|> reg@lti2.UUCP (Rick Genter x18) writes:
|> > I recently read an article in the March '91 issue of MacUser that
|> > reviews PenPoint, GO Corporation's pen-based operating system.  The
|> > user interface is (or can be) entirely pen-driven.  PenPoint supports
|> > an optional keyboard, but its use is discouraged.
|> > 
|> > Is this really "the interface for the rest of us"?...
|> 
|> I suspect the novelty of a "writing" interface will wear thin pretty
|> quickly for anyone who has to enter a lot of information.
|>
|> This past weekend, I had to hand-write a lot of material for the first time
|> in years.  (I've normally got my hands on a keyboard for 8-10 hours a day.)
|> Sheesh, my hand is *still* sore, and it's Friday!  I've only now realized
|> how much more work (and how much slower) it is to hand-write than to type.

What if they already enter a lot of information by pen and paper?  I
can point out a HUGE market for thkese machines if/when they ever drop
in price:  education.   As a college student, I would kill for one of
those machines right now.  I write many pages of notes by hand, use
several notebooks for different classes.  I can write notes by hand
much faster than anyone I have ever known can type, and my notes have
spatial and visual cues that your would find difficult to reproduce if
just using a keyboard.

|> 
|> There are some obvious applications (mentioned in other followups) for a
|> pen interface, but I think it's a lot more of an interface for specialized
|> situations than the "wave of the future" some folks seem to think.

The pen based interface has a much greater chance of being accepted by
the masses than a keyboard.  It is something they use every day,
something they will easily assimilate into their everyday routine.
Most people on this planet have no idea how to type faster than
hunt-and-peck, but a lot more of them can use a pen to write with.

|> Perhaps a pen interface will help bootstrap the keyboard-phobic?  That is,
|> they could start with a pen and move to a keyboard once they're more com-
|> fortable.

No one will go back.  Once the pen-based interfaces arrive you will
see massive changes once the machines acheive critical mass.  For
example, apply some of the abstract forms of your arguments to the
introduction of the Mac and see its impact now; people said many of
the same things about the Mac, but no one can deny the impact visual
computing and "window interfaces" has had.  It is kind of interesting,
but I think that every statement you made in your followup was at one
time given as a reason why the Mac and window based computing would
never catch on....


jim

-- 
Jim McCoy                          |  "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm 
mccoy@acns.nwu.edu                 |   having an old friend for dinner."
#include <disclaimer.h>            |                   --Hannibal Lector
