Russian programmers still apply all the exacting rules of good programming that have been largely forgotten in the West – the kinds of skills that mean that when you load 8-bit CP/M on a micro with a mere 64Kb of memory, it comes back with the reassuring message 55Kb free, and the essential programs of 8-bit WordStar require only 50Kb or so of floppy disk space eat your heart out, IBM Corp with disgracefully greedy OS/2 2.0, Microsoft Corp with Windows 3.1 and New Technology. As a result, their skills are of considerable value for anyone requiring powerful but skinny embedded applications, or those wanting to squeeze demanding functions into lightweight portable computers. So it should come as little surprise that a Russian company, JV Dialogue, is a world leader in handwriting-recognition software. And two companies living in Columbus, Ohio have plunged their boots into the snow to make the trip and come back with a agreement on an alliance that they believe will have a significant impact on the emerging pen-based computing industry. The two companies are Planning Works International Inc, a software developer, and Scriptel Corp, which makes components for pen-based computers, and they plan to harness JV Dialogue’s skills to combine hardware and software technologies to develop new products in pen-based computing. Planning Works’ first pen-based product will be an executive information program for tracking key company success indicators. It is intended to enable business managers, at the touch of a pen, to track critical company trend information. It will also have communications features for managers and team members to exchange information via handwritten pen-computer notes. The excited Americans say that the joint venture will give them access to the best and brightest mathematicians, physicists and computer programmers in the former Soviet Union. It’s hard to value these things in the present climate, but they estimate the value of JV Dialogue at $600m. It was the third private company established under the new corporate laws following Glasnost, and the Computer Centre for the Russian Academy of Sciences, a think tank of the country’s best academicians and scientists, is a major shareholder in the company. As a result of the alliance, Planning Works will develop pen-based software for business, health care and education markets. Scriptel mnaufactures and markets transparent digitisers used in medical, dental, computer graphics, computer-aided design and pen-based computer applications. The company’s products are sold on an OEM basis and to value-added resellers. The company didn’t elaborate on its plans as a result of the joint venture.
