The Birth of “The Journal of Stylus Systems”

[John Jerney]

Pen-Based Computing was founded in late 1990 by two leading industry journalists/editors: Nicholas Baran (West Coast Editor of BYTE magazine) and Jonathan Erickson (Editor of Dr. Dobb’s Journal of Software Tools).

Anyone from that period would recognize both publications instantly. BYTE was arguably the most important and widely-read computer magazine of its day, covering everything from product reviews to the concepts and breakthroughs shaping the field. Dr. Dobb’s was for professional programmers — the place software engineers turned to learn the latest algorithms and programming environments.

In other words, BYTE was where you went to learn about the latest developments in hardware and software, and Dr. Dobb’s was where you went to learn how to program in those languages and environments.

In an age when the Internet still lived mostly on college campuses and inside large computer companies, virtually everyone in the industry read both.

Pen-Based Computing – January 22, 1991 – Volume 1, Number 1

In 1990, I was a software engineer at Novell. Headquartered in Provo, Utah, the company also ran a major development center in San Jose, California — in Silicon Valley, where I lived. At the time, Novell was a powerhouse, essentially defining how businesses networked their disparate computers (mostly PCs) together.

It’s funny to think about now, but back then there were only three one-billion-dollar software companies: Microsoft, Novell, and Lotus Development. People used to say there were more Novell resellers in any given city than 7-11 convenience stores — and sure enough, my spot checks of the Yellow Pages around the country during my travels never failed to confirm it.

Nicholas and Jonathan had front-row seats to the latest computer innovations, and both became fascinated by the idea of interacting with a computer using a pen instead of a keyboard. To them it made sense for several reasons.

First, almost everyone in the world knows how to write, while many people at the time found typing foreign and tended to avoid it. And there were plenty of jobs — those that involved standing and moving around — where a keyboard was an awkward tool at best.

Then there was the sheer creativity of capturing thoughts and ideas as freeform doodles rather than formatted text.

Both men realized that while BYTE and Dr. Dobb’s would certainly cover key aspects of pen computing, neither could devote the space and tenor this new field deserved to capture its excitement.

And so Pen-Based Computing: The Journal of Stylus Systems was born, with its first 16-page printed edition published on January 22, 1991.

The timing of the first issue was no accident. It was the day on which GO Corporation unveiled the PenPoint operating system, a revolutionary new system built from the ground up to “drive mobile computers operated by a pen rather than a keyboard or mouse.” As the first paragraph of the first issue declared, “GO Corporation has been quietly working behind the scenes over the past three years on a 32-bit multitasking operating system specifically designed for pen-based computers.”

Other companies had already introduced pen-based computing to the world — GRiD Systems and Communications Intelligence Corporation had incorporated handwriting recognition into mobile and desktop hardware as early as 1987. But PenPoint was something different: an advanced 32-bit multitasking operating system that made the pen the center of interaction with a computer. To Baran and Erickson, this revolution demanded the focus of a dedicated publication — and so Pen-Based Computing, the newsletter, was born.

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