Go Corp has announced that the number of companies publicly committed to develop or provide technology for its new PenPoint operating system has risen to 40. Included in that are 21 software developers, six hardware and software communications companies, and 13 systems integrators and vertical application developers (CI No 1,596). This extra backing comes just as the battle to dominate stylus-controlled personal computing is hotting up, and according to the New York Times, Microsoft Corp is planning a belated attempt to catch up with Go. The Foster City, California-based company has a head start with its founders and backers. It was established by chairman Jerry Kaplan, formerly chief technology honcho at Lotus Development Corp, and Robert Carr, designer of Ashton Tate Corp’s Framework product is a vice-president. Financial backers include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus. Companies that have said they will use Go’s Penpoint operating system include IBM, NCR, Wordperfect and Borland International, but there is no guarantee that they won’t hedge their bets and support Microsoft’s rival offering. Despite its late entry into the market, Microsoft has a number of advantages, not least of which is its size and influence. Another advantage is that Microsoft’s Pen Windows is compatible with Windows software, unlike Go’s Penpoint. The Times says that Go believes a number of users will want a system designed for the pen, not vice versa, and it hopes to achieve superior results by designing a system from scratch. The rival systems both require 4Mb of memory and at least an 80386 microprocessor, and software developers that have compared the two agree that Go is innovating, while Microsoft is copying. However, others are sounding warning notes about the new technology, saying that handwriting recognition may be the most talked about aspect of pen-based machines, but it is also the most primitive technology.
