GO Corporation PenPointers August 1993 (Newsletter)

PenPointers was the software developer newsletter published by GO Corporation for the community writing applications on its PenPoint operating system, and the August 1993 issue carried the masthead line "Information for PenPoint Developers."¹

The issue's lead story announced MHS Link for GO Mail, electronic mail and data-transfer software that let users of the AT&T EO Personal Communicator connect GO Mail to Novell NetWare MHS (Message Handling Service) and, through gateways, to corporate mail systems including Microsoft Mail, MCI, and CompuServe; the newsletter quoted a suggested retail price of $149.00 and a mid-September availability date.¹ AT&T, EO Inc., and GO Corp. formally announced the availability of MHS Link for GO Mail on September 21, 1993, at a suggested retail price of $149.²

The same issue carried product news from GO's third-party developers: Notable Technologies, Inc. introduced Mobile Access — Personal, a $195 communications program that linked PenPoint computers to online information services over cellular, two-way radio, or land-line connections; GO began accepting orders for PenPoint 1.0 Upgrade Level 3 for the NCR 3125 and 3130 tablets, bundled with a version of GO Mail for AT&T Mail access at $19.95; and a fully localized GO Fax 2.0 Japanese edition was made available to Japanese OEMs.¹ The issue also described InTouch USA's program to rent the AT&T EO 440 Personal Communicator on a weekly trial basis with developer software pre-installed, and profiled members of the PenPoint Value-Added Reseller community, including Fillmore Systems Group of Markham, Ontario and Greycat, a medical-software VAR in River Ridge, Louisiana.¹

A "What's in the Press" section rounded up recent coverage of the platform, citing a July 5, 1993 Time feature on AT&T's reinvention, a July 12 Computer Retail Week endorsement of the AT&T EO 440, and a July 19 InfoWorld report on forecast growth in the personal-communicator and PDA market.¹ The newsletter noted AT&T's expanded distribution of the EO 440 beyond its Phone Center Stores, an expansion EO Inc. had announced on July 23, 1993 when it added Dell, Merisel, and other resellers to its sales channels.³ A closing item reported that an AT&T EO 440 Personal Communicator had been demonstrated at the White House and seen on CNN coverage between July 22 and 26, 1993.¹

GO Corporation, a privately held company based in Foster City, California, was the developer of PenPoint, the operating system at the center of the emerging personal-communicator platform; the same month this issue appeared, AT&T announced on August 13, 1993 that GO Corp. and EO Inc. would merge to become its personal-communicator company.⁴

AI generated using primary sources referenced in the footnotes