Re: [NTLK] Letter Shapes in HWR Prefs

From: Ashley W Campbell (awc2_at_andrew.cmu.edu)
Date: Thu Dec 26 2002 - 15:18:13 EST


On Thu, 26 Dec 2002, Chris Ruprecht wrote:

> Now, both apps LOOK IDENTICAL. The letters, their shapes, the text on the=
> screen - it's absolutely identical.
>
> What is going on here? Is there Inkwell in the iPaq's PocketPC OS? Did Ap=
> sell out (traitors)? Did Micro$oft steal this from Apple (thieves, pirate=
> Any explanations to this?

I assumed that Inkwell was the same Calligrapher product that had been
used since the first MP, and that it was used as a HWR module for WinCE. I
decided to pick up a Pocket PC and see what all the fuss was about and was
really amused to see the same thing. What made me laugh most was the line
in "Barbarians Led by Bill Gates" by a former MS employee whose name I
forget that was about pen computers. You may all recall MS killing Go and
doing a number on the Newton by promising (and never releasing) Pen
Windows. He told an anecdote about how his group interviewed the Russians
and looked at their Calligrapher product and were totally uninterested
when it just didn't work. The group then laughed and knew how far behind
the game Apple was when they heard that Newton would use the Russian
technology. (That's not exactly it, but the book is at home. I may post
the quote tonight.) It certainly made me laugh when, ten years later,
Microsoft's product is using the very same recognition engine.

-awc

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