aha! InkWriter Application Disk Version 1.01 (PenPoint 386/486 and Hobbit)
A truly revolutionary product, aha! inkWriter allowed you to work with handwritten text as if you were using a word processor. You could hand write paragraphs, create bullet lists, highlight text, add and delete words, and even sketch and clean up drawings.
This is an original 3.5″ disk for aha! InkWriter, running on the PenPoint operating system for both Intel 386/486 and Hobbit architectures.
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Artifact Details
Version 1.01
aha! software corporation
United States
English
1993
3.5" high density (HD) disk with color printed label.
3.5"
a515c662f8eea996
1995
Donation
Gift of Greg Stikeleather, Founder and CEO, aha! software corporation
2020-07-12
Organizations
People
History
This 3.5-inch application disk holds aha! InkWriter Version 1.01 for the PenPoint Operating System, in a build for both the 386/486 and Hobbit microprocessor families.1 The front label carries the product's tagline, “the simplicity of pen and paper, the power of word processing.”1 The reverse identifies the publisher as aha! software corporation of Mountain View, California, and bears a 1993 copyright marked “All Rights Reserved. Patent Pending.”2 aha! software corporation was an applications-software company founded in early 1991 and based in Mountain View.3
aha! announced InkWriter on June 14, 1993 as the first product in its InkProcessor product line, presenting it as the first software to let users of pen-based computers, personal communicators, and personal digital assistants edit and search handwritten words in the form of electronic ink without first translating them into computer text.3 It was built on aha!'s patent-pending SmartInk technology, which automatically recognized when a user was writing paragraphs, making lists, marking up, drawing, or editing, without requiring handwriting recognition.3 The PenPoint release carried a $249 suggested retail price and was scheduled to ship in July 1993.3
The disk's combined 386/486-and-Hobbit build reflects the platform AT&T, GO Corporation, and EO were assembling around the Hobbit microprocessor and the PenPoint operating system: in November 1992, AT&T Microelectronics announced broad industry support for Hobbit, naming aha! software corporation among the application developers building productivity software for Hobbit-based personal communicators.4 In October 1993, EO and the top five PenPoint independent software vendors — aha! among them — began a six-city national seminar tour for the AT&T/EO Personal Communicator, where InkWriter was presented as a note-taking, word-processing, and drawing utility.5
aha! extended InkWriter well beyond PenPoint over the following two years, releasing aha! InkWriter for Windows in June 1994,6 shipping a version for Sony's Magic Link and other Magic Cap-based personal communicators in September 1994,7 and arranging for the software to ship with Fujitsu's Stylistic 500 tablet computer in October 1994.8 In April 1996, Microsoft Corporation announced a definitive agreement to acquire aha! software corporation.9
AI generated using primary sources referenced in the footnotes
Footnotes
- aha! software corporation, aha! InkWriter Application Disk Version 1.01 (PenPoint 386/486 and Hobbit) (image scan), 1993
- aha! software corporation, aha! InkWriter Application Disk Version 1.01 (PenPoint 386/486 and Hobbit) (image scan), 1993
- aha! software corporation, aha! software Delivers on Promise of Electronic ink — Does for Pen What Word Processor Did for Typewriter, June 14, 1993
- AT&T Microelectronics, AT&T Microelectronics Announces Industry Support for Hobbit Microprocessors, November 16, 1992
- EO, Inc., AT&T/EO and Top Five Independent Software Vendors Begin Nationwide Roadshow to Demonstrate Effective Real World Software Solutions for Mobile Computing, October 12, 1993
- aha! software corporation, aha! software Releases InkWriter for Windows, June 10, 1994
- aha! software corporation, aha! Releases Critically-acclaimed InkWriter Software for Sony Magic Link Personal Comunicator, September 28, 1994
- Fujitsu, aha!'s Acclaimed InkWriter Notetaking Software to Ship with Fujitsu's New Advanced Mobile Computer, October 10, 1994
- Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft to Acquire aha! software, April 8, 1996
Oral History
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