![]() The age of the PDA Apple’s Newton MessagePad. Nonetheless, it boasted some impressive handwriting recognition that could interpret (accurately - most of the time) a user’s scribbles and turn them into printed words. Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing didn’t lean into the stylus as much as it could. An operating system for touchġ990s: Think Microsoft got interested in making a version of Windows that could be controlled via stylus sometime around the debut of the Microsoft Surface? Think again! In the first half of the 1990s, the firm introduced Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing 1.0 and 2.0, reconfigured versions of Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 that could be used under license by the likes of Samsung in its $5,000 PenMaster tablet circa 1992. It also laid the groundwork for the trackpad - and the notion that styluses could be used as creative applications on a computer. At a time when drawing on your computer was about the most futuristic thing imaginable, this neat device was a game-changer. It worked with the Commodore 64 and was advertised primarily as a drawing tool for kids. Laying the groundwork for the trackpad OldComputerġ984: The KoalaPad was a $195 accessory that allowed users to replace their mouse (that is, if they’d even heard of a mouse at the time) with a stylus and trackpad. They also established the idea of stylus-based handwriting as a possible computer input. None of the three proposed devices made a mainstream splash at the time, but they all helped advance the notion of pen-based computing. Then there was Alan Kay’s Dynabook concept at Xerox PARC, a tablet with a built-in keyboard and a stylus. The RAND Tablet stylus boasted a miniature click switch that sent a signal to the tablet when depressed. More famous was the RAND Tablet, a graphical computer input device accompanied by a stylus. The Styalator might sound like a cross between a beauty product and some fitness equipment, but it was actually one of the first styluses designed for a computing device. Computer History Museum/Courtesy of Gwen Bellġ950s to 1970s: Computers were still out of the reach of regular folks during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, but there was nonetheless some innovative work being done with styluses and associated technology. The idea gains momentum Tom Ellis, one of the RAND tablet computer inventors, using the RAND tablet. While the memex was never built during Bush’s lifetime, this was the birth of a half-dozen tech revolutions, pen computing included. Published under the title “ As We May Think,” Bush’s idea was for a kind of “memory extender,” or “memex,” consisting of a document scanner, microfilm memory storage system, touchscreen, and - most importantly here - a stylus so that users could add their own annotations. Office for Scientific Research and Development, came up with one of the most influential concepts in the history of tech. ‘As We May Think’ġ945: While trying to solve the problem of information overload for scientists working on national security projects, Vannevar Bush, then-head of the U.S. How did the stylus go from sci-fi dream to reality? Here are some of the notable milestones along the way.
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