Easy way to draw traffic

Engadget columnist Ross Rubin declares the death of pen computing.

The premise of the column is that pen computing doesn’t add enough value. There is value the article claims in diagramming and forms–but this just isn’t enough to justify the expensive of providing one. Just use a separate digitizing pad if you must the suggestion is made.

No thanks.

An integrated digitizer is a far better experience. Give ArtRage a try on a Tablet and a computer with a standalone Wacom digitizer. There’s a big difference.

I agree with the article though that I can type faster than I write. I use the keyboard quite a bit on my convertible Tablet for instance. And I’d like a little thumb keyboard on my slate Tablet too. Yes, I could tap the onscreen keyboard with my stylus, but sometimes I don’t want to. Opposing thumbs are too good not to use.

But I’d rather not give up the flexibility the pen offers me. Just like I don’t want to give up the mouse.

I like having options.

When I’m feeling creative, I like sketching out an idea in Journal. When I’m joking around with my niece I like to draw goofy cartoonish figures with her in MSN Messenger. When I’m iterating through UI designs I like to take screenshots and mark them up with ink. When I’m jotting down notes I like the option of inking them or typing. It all depends on how of if I’m sitting or standing, how long I expect to be taking notes, and what the form of the notes are. I don’t fill out forms too often with the pen, but I do navigate windows with the stylus from time to time. (At DEMO yesterday I noticed Dan Bricklin was exclusively (I think) using the stylus to navigate the windows on his Tablet rather than using the built in touchpad, for instance. Lora does the same.)

Is the pen experience ideal right now? No. I’d like to see a pen-optimized desktop. And applications are so right mouse and double click oriented, it can be a pain. I’d like to see improvements in the handwriting recognition as well. These are incremental improvements that I hope to see over time.

Talking about the value of a pen computing feature reminds me of a comment Howard Elias made last night at the DEMO Innovation dinner. He was being recognized for his contributions in introducing the first multimedia PC in 1991 at DEMO. At the time he was challenged: Why does a computer need sound? It was a good question at the time. Never much of a gamer myself, that’s what I thought at the time too. But ten plus years later it seems out of place. My little tech world is touched by sound. The Internet combined with Skype has made a difference in how I think about using computers.

It’s interesting. Much of the day I have the volume totally muted on my Tablet. I could care less if apps want to beep and squeak. But when I want to have a Skype converstation with a remote co-worker, or my parents, or nieces and nephews, or whomever, I can slide the volume up and do so.

Oh, and now that I think about it, even after I accepted the value of sound in my desktops (I think about the time webcasts became reasonably practical in ’99 or so) I was still a laggard in terms of having a microphone equipped computer. At the time, I made the mistake of correlating the value of a microphone with speech recognition–which didn’t work for me well enough to be useful. But now with VoIP and apps like Skype my view has changed. I want a microphone with all my computers so I can talk with people. No speech recognition required. I wouldn’t buy a notebook or Tablet without a microphone–or better yet a microphone array–today.

The point is that pen computing combined with the right set of other technologies and applications is going to be what makes pen computing seem like a good idea after all. And here it’s going to depend how much value each customer gets from these combined technologies. For me there’s enough value in today’s Tablets. Your mileage may vary.