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Text File  |  1993-08-01  |  8KB  |  105 lines
  1.                                                                                
  2. IBM ANNOUNCES 'PEN FOR OS/2', ADDS PEN CAPABILITIES                            
  3. TO VIRTUALLY ANY OS/2, WINDOWS OR DOS APPLICATION                              
  4.                                                                                
  5. June 30, 1993                                                                  
  6.                                                                                
  7. IBM's Personal Software Products (PSP) division today announced                
  8. Pen for OS/2*.  Pen for OS/2 is a powerful pen computing system                
  9. that adds pen capabilities, with handwriting recognition, to                   
  10. virtually any OS/2, DOS or DOS/Windows** application.                          
  11.                                                                                
  12. Pen for OS/2 is designed for mobile computing environments,                    
  13. where a keyboard can be impractical, and for collaborative                     
  14. computing on the desktop.  It combines the strengths of OS/2 with              
  15. full-featured pen capabilities, including: integrated                          
  16. user-trainable handwriting recognition; a window which adds                    
  17. handwriting recognition to most non-pen-aware applications;                    
  18. standard and user-customizable gestures, and a                                 
  19. pop-up keyboard.  Included as part of Pen for OS/2 are two                     
  20. applications -- Telepen, a collaborative computing system, and                 
  21. Sketchpad, a freehand drawing tool.                                            
  22.                                                                                
  23. Pen for OS/2 is now available to OEMs and ISVs, and also                       
  24. direct from IBM to end-users.   A number of leading pen-based                  
  25. hardware manufacturers today endorsed Pen for OS/2, including:                 
  26. Dauphin Technology, Inc., AST Research**, TelePad** Corp., Tusk,               
  27. Inc.** and FTG Data Systems.  Pen for OS/2 also supports desktop               
  28. workpads and opaque tablets from Wacom, Kurta, Calcomp, Appoint                
  29. and Acecad.                                                                    
  30.                                                                                
  31. Beta users of Pen for OS/2 include the Chicago Mercantile                      
  32. Exchange and The State of Louisiana House of Representatives.                  
  33.                                                                                
  34. "With Pen for OS/2, we've  expanded the boundaries of where                    
  35. and how computers can be used," said Wally Casey, director of                  
  36. marketing for IBM's PSP division.  "For today's laptop-carrying                
  37. business executives, pen means being able to use a computer more               
  38. comfortably in a meeting, while standing, while making                         
  39. presentations or in other environments where a keyboard is                     
  40. unwieldy."                                                                     
  41. Pen is also excellent for a host of vertical applications.                     
  42. With pen-based computers, for example, manufacturers can take                  
  43. inventory from the factory floor and hospitals can record patient              
  44. information direct to their computer from the doctor's waiting                 
  45. room.  Pen is also a much more natural and convenient input tool               
  46. for desktop-based applications where people want to use a pen to               
  47. 'think on paper,' or jointly review and revise documents,                      
  48. spreadsheets or presentations.                                                 
  49.                                                                                
  50. Using ThinkWrite*, a handwriting recognition technology                        
  51. developed by IBM's Entry Systems Technology division, Pen for OS/2             
  52. offers users one of the fastest and most accurate handwriting                  
  53. recognition technologies available today.  Pen for OS/2's                      
  54. handwriting recognition program also allows users to improve                   
  55. accuracy by tailoring the system to their unique handwriting                   
  56. characteristics.  A large selection of standard handwriting                    
  57. gestures can be used to control applications.  Gestures also can               
  58. be user-defined to execute menu commands or macros in both                     
  59. pen-based and traditional applications.                                        
  60.                                                                                
  61. With Pen for OS/2, developers can easily create powerful                       
  62. pen-based OS/2 applications for both mobile and desktop computing.             
  63. Pen for OS/2 capabilities can be accessed from virtually any OS/2              
  64. programming language.                                                          
  65.                                                                                
  66. Pen for OS/2 enables users to operate virtually any OS/2,                      
  67. Windows or DOS application running in an OS/2 window, using the                
  68. pen as a mouse.  From most traditional applications, a Pen for                 
  69. OS/2 handwriting recognition window can quickly be called up which             
  70. will accept handwriting and pass it back to the application as                 
  71. traditional text.  A pop-up on-screen keyboard also allows users               
  72. to enter traditional text, numbers and commands using the pen.                 
  73.                                                                                
  74. Two applications ship with Pen for OS/2.  The first is                         
  75. Telepen, a collaborative "chalkboard" application which allows                 
  76. networked users to share a common space in which they can view,                
  77. draw and annotate.  Screen captures can be easily imported into                
  78. Telepen.  The other application is Sketchpad, a tool for creating              
  79. freehand drawings that can be inserted into applications through               
  80. the system clipboard.                                                          
  81.                                                                                
  82. Pen for OS/2 is available now to end-users at a single-unit                    
  83. price of $89.  Volume pricing is available for OEMs.  Pen for OS/2             
  84. requires the following: a computer running OS/2 version 2.1; a pen             
  85. sensor (digitizer) integrated with a display or a digitizing                   
  86. tablet; 2MB of RAM over the requirements for OS/2 2.1; and 5MB of              
  87. hard disk space.                                                               
  88.                                                                                
  89. A Pen for OS/2 developers tool kit is available to assist                      
  90. ISVs and corporate MIS to develop their own Pen for OS/2                       
  91. applications.  In addition, IBM has scheduled a series of one-week             
  92. workshops to help developers create pen-based applications or add              
  93. pen capabilities to existing applications.  For more information               
  94. on these offerings call IBM at the following numbers: end-user                 
  95. sales, (800) 3IBMOS2; OEM sales, (800) 426-4579; and developers'               
  96. assistance (404) 238-2200.                                                     
  97.                                                                                
  98. *    Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International              
  99.      Business Machines Corporation.                                            
  100.                                                                                
  101. **  Indicates trademark or registered trademark of: Microsoft                  
  102.     Corporation (Windows); AST Research (AST); TelePad Corp.                   
  103.     (TelePad); Tusk, Inc. (Tusk)                                               
  104.                                                                                
  105.