GO Corporation PenPointers December 1992 (Newsletter)

PenPointers was GO Corporation's newsletter for developers writing software for its PenPoint operating system, and the December 1992 issue carried the standing line "Information for PenPoint Developers."¹ GO Corporation had announced PenPoint — described as the only general-purpose operating system designed for mobile computers operated by a pen rather than a keyboard or mouse — in January 1991, with a developer release aimed at independent software vendors and value-added resellers.²

The issue told developers it should arrive accompanied by several enclosures: the GO Educational Service's December course offerings, a database for developing PenPoint applications, Technical Note #11 ("Writing Portable PenPoint Applications"), and a brochure for the "Hot Apps" promotion, with a GO Customer Service number to call for any missing items.¹ It also announced two new sample-code programs — a Counter Service and a Counter Class App demonstrating how PenPoint services negotiate shared access — newly uploaded to GO's library on the GO PENPOINT CompuServe forum.¹

Several items covered third-party developer tools and training. NovaTech had shipped Objective C for PenPoint to its first customers, and PenMagic Software of North Vancouver, British Columbia, had shipped LetterExpress, a document-assembly tool for mobile pen users, on November 9, 1992.¹ The newsletter also pointed developers to a ten-week PenPoint Programming course taught by certified PenPoint developer Bill McAlpine.¹ UC Santa Cruz Extension scheduled that course to begin on January 11, 1993.³

A large part of the issue introduced PenPoint 2.0 Japanese, GO Corporation's entry into the Japanese pen-computing market, which added Japanese handwriting recognition, Kana-Kanji conversion, Japanese typefaces, and Unicode support to the features of the U.S. PenPoint 1.0 release.¹ The companion PenPoint SDK 2.0 Japanese, for developing or localizing applications for that market, was priced at $299.00 and slated for availability in January 1993.¹

The remaining items described hardware-purchase programs for developers: an IBM Pen Assistant program offering discounts on ThinkPad pen tablets, and special developer pricing from Samsung Electronics America on its PenMaster pen computer.¹ Samsung had begun shipping the PenMaster that September, a notepad computer that supported PenPoint among other pen operating systems.⁴ The issue closed by reminding developers that GO's "Hot Apps" promotion would close on December 31, 1992, with delivery of the purchased machine required by January 15, 1993 to qualify.¹ GO had introduced that promotion in November as a collection of third-party PenPoint applications available to customers who purchased PenPoint before the end of the year.⁵

AI generated using primary sources referenced in the footnotes