Editing PenPoint OS

{{Short description|Discontinued operating system}}
{{Infobox OS
| name                   = PenPoint OS
| logo                   = 
| screenshot             = 
| caption                = 
| developer              = [[GO Corporation]]
| source_model           = [[Closed source]]
| kernel_type            = 
| supported_platforms    = [[EO Personal Communicator]], [[IBM]]'s [[ThinkPad]] 700T series, [[NCR Corporation|NCR]]'s 3125, 3130 and some of [[GRiD Systems]]' pen-based portables
| ui                     = [[Graphical user interface]]
| family                 = 
| released               = {{Start date and age|1991}}
| latest_release_version = 
| latest_release_date    = 
| latest_test_version    = 
| latest_test_date       = 
| marketing_target       = [[Tablet computer]]
| programmed_in          = 
| prog_language          = 
| language               = [[English language|English]]
| updatemodel            = 
| package_manager        = 
| working_state          = Abandoned
| license                = [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]]
| website                = 
}}
The '''PenPoint OS''' was one of the earliest [[operating system]]s written specifically for graphical [[Tablet computer|tablets]] and [[personal digital assistant]]s. It was a product of [[GO Corporation]]. PenPoint OS ran on a number of [[x86|Intel x86]]-powered [[tablet computer|tablet PC]]s including [[IBM]]'s [[ThinkPad]] 700T series, [[NCR Corporation|NCR]]'s 3125, 3130 and some of [[GRiD Systems]]' pen-based portables; it was later ported to the [[AT&T Hobbit|Hobbit]] chip in [[AT&T Corporation]]'s [[EO Personal Communicator]].<ref name="Kirkpatrick">{{ cite news | url = https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1993/05/17/77857/index.htm | title = COULD AT&T RULE THE WORLD? | last = Kirkpatrick | first = David | date = May 17, 1993 | access-date = June 10, 2008 | work = CNN }}</ref> PenPoint was never widely adopted.

Developers of the PenPoint OS included [[Robert Carr (Programmer)|Robert Carr]], who was involved with the [[Alto (computer)|Alto]] computer at [[Xerox PARC]]. He commissioned Dr. Tinker, the naming service company of Mark Beaulieu who generated the name 'PenPoint', using proprietary algorithms. 

==Awards and innovation==
[[Byte (magazine)|Byte magazine]] awarded PenPoint best Operating System in the 1992 Byte Awards.  PenPoint won in the Standards and Operating Systems category in [[PC Magazine]]'s 1991 Technical Excellence awards.<ref>{{Cite news
  | title = The 8th Annual Awards (1991) - Standards and Operating Systems
  | url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1161457,00.asp
  | accessdate = 2007-04-20
  | work=PC Magazine
  | date=2002-03-12}}</ref>

The PenPoint operating system had novel early implementations of several computing advances, including:
* a large set of [[Gesture recognition|gestures]] such as circle to edit, X to delete, and caret to insert
* using the same gestures at all levels of the operating system and applications
* press and hold for moving any selection, which showed the selection as a floating icon to [[drag and drop]] into a destination
* a rich notebook user [[interface metaphor]]: Documents existed as pages in a notebook with tabs (this was not new in PenPoint, but PenPoint was the first to make it a primary OS interface; Microsoft later did it in [[Windows for Pen Computing]])
* a document architecture where each document was a directory nested in another document's directory (in some sense, this was an extension of the document architecture on [[Multics]])
* dynamic toolkit layout: this allowed applications to rescale for landscape and portrait orientation
* a system-wide pluggable [[address book]]

In April 2008, as part of a larger federal court case,  the gesture features of the Windows/Tablet PC operating system and hardware were found to infringe on a patent by [[GO Corp.]] concerning user interfaces for the PenPoint OS.<ref>{{Cite book
  | last =Mintz
  | first =Jessica
  | title =Microsoft to Appeal $367M Patent Ruling
  | pages =
  | language =
  | publisher =The Associated Press
  | date =2008-04-04
  | url = https://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-04-04-2507619152_x.htm
  | accessdate = 2008-09-04 }}</ref>

==Third-party applications==
The novel user interface of PenPoint and the mobile form factor of pen computers inspired many startup software companies, including:
* Inkwriter by Aha! Software which was purchased by Microsoft and became the basis for Microsoft's [[Windows Journal]]
* [[FutureWave Software]] ([[FutureSplash Animator|SmartSketch]], a vector-drawing program that evolved into [[Adobe Flash]])
* [http://www.glyphic.com/ Glyphic Technology] (Glyphic Script [[prototype-based programming]] [[programming language|language]], with Codeworks direct interactive [[Integrated development environment|programming environment]]<ref>[http://www.ozonehouse.com/mark/codeworks.html Codeworks] Mark Lentczner's Projects</ref>)
* PenMagic (Numero spreadsheet and LetterExpress document fill-in templates)
* Pensoft (Perspective personal data manager, winner of a BYTE award in 1992). Pensoft was acquired by [[EO Personal Communicator|Eo]].
* Slate (several pen applications).  Slate's founders included industry luminaries [[Dan Bricklin]] and [[Bob Frankston]].
* Gaia Software (''Personal Media'' personal productivity applications)
* Conic Systems (LocatorGIS survey/mapping application that briefly went into production at Ordnance Survey in the UK)
* [[eShop|Ink Development]] released InkWare NoteTaker and InkWare Photo. [[Pierre Omidyar]] and [[Greg Stein]] were two of the founders. Ink Development renamed themselves eShop when they pivoted to electronic commerce software and was later acquired by Microsoft.
* Marathon Development created QuikScript, the original script handwriting word processor.  QuikScript was later ported to Palm and Windows devices under the name PenScript.  Patents acquired by Microsoft.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
 | isbn = 0-201-57763-1
 | first = Robert
 | last = Carr
 | authorlink = Robert Carr (programmer)
 | author2 = Dan Shafer
 | year = 1991
 | publisher = Addison Wesley Pub. Co.
 | location = Reading, Mass.
 | title = The power of PenPoint
}}
* {{cite journal
 | last = Bortman
 | first = Henry
 | date = March 1991
 | title = Computing on the GO
 | page = 202
 | journal = MacUser
 | volume = 7
 | publisher = [[Ziff Davis|Ziff-Davis Publishing Co.]]
 | issue = 3
 | issn = 0884-0997
 | oclc = 300003271
}}
* {{cite book
 | isbn = 0-201-60859-6
 | author = GO Corporation
 | year = 1992
 | publisher = Addison-Wesley
 | location = Reading, MA
 | title = PenPoint architectural reference, Volume 1
}}
* {{cite book
 | isbn = 0-201-60860-X
 | author = GO Corporation
 | year = 1992
 | publisher = Addison-Wesley
 | location = Reading, MA
 | title = PenPoint architectural reference, Volume 2
}}
* {{cite book
 | isbn = 0-201-60858-8
 | author = GO Corporation
 | year = 1992
 | publisher = Addison-Wesley
 | location = Reading, MA
 | title = PenPoint user interface design reference
}}
* {{cite book
 | isbn = 0-201-60857-X
 | author = GO Corporation
 | year = 1992
 | publisher = Addison-Wesley
 | location = Reading, MA
 | title = PenPoint application writing guide
}}
* {{cite book
 | isbn = 0-201-60833-2
 | authorlink = Andy Novobilski
 | first = Andy
 | last = Novobilski
 | year = 1992
 | publisher = Addison-Wesley
 | location = Reading, MA
 | title = PenPoint programming
}}
* {{cite book
 | isbn = 0-14-025731-4
 | authorlink = Jerry Kaplan
 | first = Jerry
 | last = Kaplan
 | year = 1994
 | publisher = Penguin Books
 | location = New York
 | title = Startup : a Silicon Valley adventure
}}
* {{cite book
 | isbn = 0-8050-5755-2
 | author1 = Edstrom, Jennifer
 | author2 = Eller, Marlin
 | authorlink2 = Marlin Eller
 | year = 1999
 | publisher = Holt
 | title = [[Barbarians Led by Bill Gates]]
}}

==External links==
* [http://stevecolwell.com/penpoint.html Thoughts on The Power of PenPoint] [https://web.archive.org/web/20180809063922/http://stevecolwell.com/penpoint.html Archive]
* [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140257314/ Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure]
* [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H2MRVG/ Barbarians led by Bill Gates] — Contains two chapters dealing with the story of [[GO Corporation]] and the PenPoint OS from a view inside Microsoft.
* [http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050704045343631 Microsoft found to infringe PenPoint gesture patent]
* [http://users.erols.com/rwservices/biblio.html Annotated bibliography of references to handwriting recognition and tablet and touch computers]
* {{YouTube|4xnqKdWMa_8|Notes on the History of Pen-based Computing}}

{{Operating system}}
[[Category:Tablet operating systems]]
[[Category:Personal digital assistant software]]
[[Category:Handwriting recognition]]
[[Category:1991 software]]