Upgrade OS 4.2 for CLie?

[JLHoffy]

I have heard that there will be an upgrade for OS 4.12 that will change the graffiti to the CIC Jot! platform.

Does anyone know if, when, or where this upgrade will be available for the Clie?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Jon

[Shrink]

HaHaHaaHaHaHaHaHaHa

[turcic.com]

Yes it will be most probably available. Also read here:

Palm inks handwriting recognition software deal
By Ephraim Schwartz
InfoWorld (U.S. online)

PalmSource Inc., the operating system division of Palm Inc., announced on Monday that it will discontinue its Graffiti handwriting recognition software in favour of Jot technology from Communication Intelligence Corp. (CIC) based in Redwood Shores, Calif.

The Jot software will be renamed Graffiti 2 and will be embedded in current and future versions of the OS.

According to PalmSource officials Jot emulates more natural printing input. While in Grafitti a user has to write an upside down L to depict a 't' in Jot the same letter is written as a plain 't'. "Users don't have to read a manual," said Michael Higashi, director of OS Marketing for Palmsource in Sunnyvale, Calif.

However, the punctuation is more of an effort. "You have to do an upstroke instead of a dot," said Higashi.

While the new software may make most users happier, the same may not be said for retailers who still have plenty of the older Grafitti-based Palm OS devices on their shelves. If the Jot software is so much easier why wouldn't a buyer hold off purchasing a device until the new software is incorporated into Palm-based models?

"Manufacturers choose when they want to roll it out," said Marlene Somsak, from Palm Solutions Group.

Somsak said Palm SG was not sure whether or not the company would roll out Grafitti 2-based devices as a new model or do what she called a "soft roll," upgrading the current models with new handwriting software.

As for so-called power users who have invested the time in learning Grafitti, Higashi said the transition is as easy as going from a notebook keyboard to a desktop keyboard.

Palm SG intends to have Grafitti 2 products in this calendar year but Somsak would not give a more precise date. One industry analyst called Jot an "interim solution."

"CIC is not bad and will serve until the migration to all keyboard handhelds is complete," said David Hayden, principle analyst with MobileWeek in Palo Alto, Calif.

According to Hayden, consumers are buying in large numbers handhelds with keyboards. Hayden cited Handspring which had two handheld models one with a keyboard and one with Grafitti. "Over 90 per cent of the buyers chose the model with the keyboard," Hayden said.

Besides the handwriting recognition, the Jot technology will recognize English and European characters that are based on the Roman alphabet. Jot will sell separately text entry utilities, WordComplete, and QuickNotes.

Some industry analysts also point to a law suit filed by Xerox Corp. over copyright infringement for its handwriting recognition software technology.

Somsak said the Xerox lawsuit was a consideration but once the company began studying alternatives it realized the Jot technology was superior and PalmSource will stay with it no matter the outcome of the lawsuit.

[Gotcha]

From the same article above:

UPDATE: This week PalmSource informed licensees of the release of updated versions of the Palm OS 5 family: Palm OS* 5.2 for ARM; and the Palm OS 4 family: Palm OS* 4.1.2 for 68k, respectively. (NOT Palm OS 5.1.2 as we previously reported) As a part of these standard maintenance releases, PalmSource has included the new handwriting recognition engine Graffiti 2.

"Jot has established the kind of broad based consumer acceptance in the Palm community that made it a natural choice for us," said David Nagel, president and chief executive officer of PalmSource. "Graffiti 2 is a superior handwriting recognition system that will enhance the ease of use that Palm OS is known for. We expect this technology to appeal to a wide range of users who will be able to easily take notes and write memos on their Palm Powered(TM) devices."

Jot is a character-based recognizer that was developed by CIC after years of research in the field of pattern recognition. The product is ideally suited for portable computing because it offers a fast and highly accurate means of entering text on small devices. Jot recognizes both English and Roman-based European characters in a very natural way supporting broader market appeal for these products.

"Based upon the experience we gained over the past several years by providing Jot directly to the Palm OS developer and end user community we believe that Graffiti 2 powered by Jot will provide Palm OS users the most natural and intuitive experience possible." Stated Guido DiGregorio, CIC's chairman and chief executive officer.

[grifter]

Although Palm may release an update to add Graffitti II to the OS, Sony has not done any OS updates that I am aware of.  Since Sony probably made some modifications to the 4.1 OS, I doubt the update from Palm would work on the Clie.

[pigburger]

the last software OS update that I remember was to upgrade from 3.51s to 3.52s for the S300. I would not hurt myself crossing my fingers.....

Palm usually doesn't offer free OS upgrades so before you hang Sony....

[zzarg]

nice to hope though.
Maybe we'll get some other 'treats' if Sony does update the OS for the NR70s
That said... I kinda like Grafitti !

[novaol]

If you read in detail, they are trying to change over fast due to the ruling from Xerox that patent the rights over Palm usage on Graffitti.. that is why they have to change..

My figure is that they cannot pay the license to Xerox and hence CIC is offering a much cheaper licensing to cut cost down to the minimal.. What do you think!

I think it is primary an excuse to move to this kind of arrangement if not they should have implemented on OS6 why now then!

Originally posted by zzarg
nice to hope though.
Maybe we'll get some other 'treats' if Sony does update the OS for the NR70s
That said... I kinda like Grafitti !

[Civil]

If you want to see what Graffiti 2 will be like, you can go to

www.cic.com

and download a demo of their JOT handwriting recognition. It's really nice, but I've been on Graffiti for so long there would definitely be a transition period required for me.

[stevec]

Sorry to contradict you, pigburner, but Palm has regularly offered free OS upgrades - I reflashed my IIIx ROM at least twice with free OS upgrades.

I agree that a Palm offering probably won't be any use to Clie owners as Sony customise their ROM offerings. Still, we can always hope Sony consider all their loyal users (was that a pig I saw fly by then - surely not :)