Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Inkwell: Handwriting Recognition

Apple spent a lot of money on the Newton, its mid-’90s handheld computer that never really took off. Bigger, heavier, and much more expensive than the Palm (which followed soon after), the Newton was a case of good technology, bad timing.

Never let it be said that Steve Jobs doesn’t know how to hunt for bargains. In the same way that your grandmother turned yesterday’s dinner into today’s sandwich (and tomorrow’s soup), Apple has recycled the Newton handwriting technology and added it to Mac OS X 10.2. It’s now called Inkwell, and it does exactly what it used to: turns your handwriting into “typed” text in any program.

You can’t very well write directly on your Apple Cinema Display (although that would be cool—Apple, are you listening?). That’s why Inkwell appears in Mac OS X only if you have a Wacom graphics tablet, one of those stylus-and-pad devices found generally only on the desks of graphic artists.

But Who’s Got a Graphics Tablet?

Um, I hate to be a party pooper, but really: Why did Apple go to the expense and effort of adding handwriting recognition to Mac OS X? I mean, not one Mac user in 1,000 has a graphics tablet.

Apple weakly answers this question by citing Photoshop jockeys who can’t be bothered to take their hands off the pen just to type a couple of words on the keyboard. They want to be able to draw, then “type” a couple of words without moving their hands.

Yeah, right.

It’s much more likely that Apple is laying the groundwork for some ...