Ink Handwriting recognition in one Note

[Taha]

Hello,

I have installed the hand writing recognizer engines that came with
Office 2003 and to my surprise, I have found out that I can ink in any
of the Office applications (eg. Word or powerpoint) and have this ink
be searchable, recognizable, except in OneNote. In fact, when I turn
on the Pen Utility in oneNote, the language bar will not allow me to
ink at all. (The ink button gets Grayed out) I find this really
suprising that I can ink in one Office app but not another...

Thus I ran TPCinfo.exe(I am running windows Xp PRO on a desktop) just
to see if it sees the handwriting recognition engine installed by
Office 2003 but found none... however, TPCinfo.exe did find the Speech
recognition engine that got installed with Office 2003.

Has anyone seen this problem before? Can anyone help me figure out how
to ink in oneNote (without having to purchase a tabletPC)... After
all, the software is available... I dont know why the emphasis is put
on having a tablet PC to fully use oneNote...

Thanks,

Sincerely,

Taha

 

[Grant Robertson]

I have installed the hand writing recognizer engines that came with
Office 2003 and to my surprise, I have found out that I can ink in any
of the Office applications (eg. Word or powerpoint) and have this ink
be searchable, recognizable, except in OneNote.

I think this has been kind of discussed before but not quite in so many
words. From what I recall, Microsoft created two different versions of
the ink recognition engine. However they are completely different and
incompatible. Almost as if they had been written by two different
companies... hmmmm....

The first version works with most of the real Office suite. However,
OneNote, which I consider an Office product in name only, uses the second
version. This second version is what is used on the Tablet PC so the
first version is pretty much a dead product. Almost as if it were bought
from another company and then killed after being milked for it's
technology.... hmmm... Can anyone say, "Fox Pro"?

Now I may be remembering things differently, but I think that is pretty
close.

 

[Kathy J]

Taha,
Do you have OneNote set to accept your ink as writing or as drawing? If it
is set as a drawing, you will see the results that you describe. To Check:
Write something in ink and go to Tools--> Treat Selected Ink As. The next
submenu should give you two options, drawing or handwriting. Make sure that
handwriting is selected. You should then see the other options.

See if that helps any and report back....

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Author of Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint - Available now from Holy Macro! Books
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Featured Presenter at PPT 2004 - http://www.pptlive.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

 

[Paul]

I have asked about this previously.

Apparently OneNote uses 'tablet ink' and office uses 'office ink'.

I was told that tablet ink is the better technology but simply does not
support the use of graphic tablets (only tablet PC digitizer screens). No
one thought to include comaptibility with Office ink to allow those of us
with desktops to use handwriting recognition which I think is a big mistake.

The menus for ink in OneNote do not work as described and instead of greying
out the options that relate to ink if you don't have a tablet PC, they just
do nothing when you click on them leaving to believe that you have done
something wrong (other than install a product that is crippled on anything
but a table PC).

Personally I think this stinks. I have a graphics tablet and even if the
handwriting recognition quality would not be as good as on a tablet PC, I
would appreciate the option of being able to use it and decide for myself if
it is good enough for my needs. I do use handwriting recognition in the
other office applications and it works just fine for me.

Hopefully the OneNote design team will see their error and include support
for desktops at some future point.

 

[Erik Sojka]

I understand your frustration, but there are some
realitites of bringing a product like this to the market
that you have to keep in mind.

First off, OneNote is not by any means "crippled" on a
desktop or laptop. Every feature *except* the Tablet
handwriting is present. I have a Tablet at work, but for
meetings in my office, I end up typing meeting notes
instead of flipping the screen, etc. just to write. Not
counting meeting notes, everything else in my ON setup is
typed.

Now imagine you're the ON development team. You're
sitting in a conference room determing what the feature
set will be. You know that you want to include
handwriting support. You know that there are two engines
available to you: the "old and busted and probably going
away" Office engine, or the "new hotness" of the
forthcoming Tablet PC. Strategically, MS is pushing the
Tablet and its Ink capabilities. I'd make the decision
to support the new longterm engine. I'd guess (although
I have no inside information - this is strictly my guess)
that future versions of OFfice will natively support Ink
and the older Office engine will go away.

It's also not a simple matter (as described by some MS
folks here in other threads) of easily inserting new
modules into legacy code. Some of the code in Word and
Excel is many many many many years old, and it's not a
simple matter of <include tablet-ink.h> and it's
magically now included in the products. OneNote is a
brand new product written from scratch, and does not have
10+ years of legacy features to support, and legions of
loud users who demand 100% backwards compatibility.

Could there be some fixes? Sure! If a feature isn't
available, then the menu item should be greyed out. Will
MS clarify and standardize their Ink support in the
various applications? Undoubtedly, but it's probably not
feasible right now in the 2003 versions.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Apparently OneNote uses 'tablet ink' and office uses 'office ink'.

and office ink is depreciated... it's going to go away eventually and all
ink capabilities will be provided by the OS.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/

 

[Chris_Pratley \(MS\)]

This situation was similar to what Erik described. Note that Office actually
chose to *disable* Tablet ink entirely when not on a Tablet, so it in fact
only supports "old" ink (i.e. in-line with text, ugly, slow after more than
a page is entered, inaccurate). If you've used Office 2003 on a Tablet, then
you know what you are missing when not on a Tablet (fast ink, smoother, ink
comments, annotations, etc). OneNote decided to try to support Tablet ink as
much as was possible when on a desktop or laptop (i.e. go the extra mile),
which meant most things except handwriting recogntion, where the code to do
this is on the tablet only for technical reasons.

Commands in OneNote relating to ink are not disabled on desktops because
they all work (at times). The exception would be handwriting that was
created on the desktop by drawing it then converting it to handwriting using
the button in OneNote. You cannot convert this ink to text because there has
been no recognition on it (engine available only on Tablet). But, the button
is not greyed out because it is possible to receive handwritten text from
someone who DOES have a tablet, and you would want to have this command
available (the recognition results are done on Tablet and travel with the
ink). It is arguable that this command should be greyed out for handwriting
that has not had reco done on it - sorry about that.

Chris Pratley (MS)
OneNote design team

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the explanation of the design process.
desktop or laptop. Every feature *except* the Tablet
handwriting is present.

I guess different users expect different things from the product. To me, a
product for taking/making notes that does not include handwriting
recognition is crippled. I may as well take the notes on paper and scan
them, or just type them up.

I like to work in hi res (1600*1200 or above) on a large screen (15" plus)
and so do not want to move to a tablet (I am told the latest tablets are
better, but all the ones I've seen have small low res screens that are
really fuzzy and nasty).

Is there some reason why a graphics tablet cannot be produced that can
support tablet ink?
and the older Office engine will go away.

Do you mean to say that I will LOSE the ability to handwright in future
versions of office unless I am using a tablet? I really hope that doesn't
happen. I think it would be one of the few times a feature has been removed
from Office.

I have read articles that predict that Longhorn will include tablet ink. If
Office 'Longhorn' does include this and support for graphics tablets (even
if they need to be new, more expensive ones) is included then losing support
for the old handwriting is not so bad.

 

[Thomas Wenzl [MVP]]

Hello Paul,

I like to work in hi res (1600*1200 or above) on a large screen (15"
plus) and so do not want to move to a tablet (I am told the latest
tablets are better, but all the ones I've seen have small low res
screens that are really fuzzy and nasty).

the Toshiba M200 has a nice 1400x1050 display, but only
a 12,1" display - I know.

Depends on what you want to do with your tablet. I guess,
for most situations you don't need a higher resolution than
1400x1050.

Is there some reason why a graphics tablet cannot be produced that can
support tablet ink?

In fact, the digitizer in almost all tablets comes from
Wacom, which is the leading manufacturer of
graphic tablets, too.

The main problem is the operating system. Only
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition supports
handwriting recognition at the moment.

Do you mean to say that I will LOSE the ability to handwright in
future versions of office unless I am using a tablet? I really hope
that doesn't happen. I think it would be one of the few times a
feature has been removed from Office.

No, I don't think so. I guess, tablet pc ink support will
made it into the operating system and will be supported
in future Office versions on desktops as well. But just
a guess...

I have read articles that predict that Longhorn will include tablet
ink. If Office 'Longhorn' does include this and support for graphics
tablets (even if they need to be new, more expensive ones) is
included then losing support for the old handwriting is not so bad.

But there's still a long way to go for Longhorn and Office 12.

Regards

 

[Paul]

Thanks Thomas

Is it the case that the digitizer on a tablet pc screen is no more advanced
than a graphics tablet?

The reason I have previously been given for OneNote not supporting graphics
tablets is that they are not up to the job (capture rates, etc.)

Is the real reason that only the tablet PC OS has tablet ink features? If so
this seems like a bit of a ploy to try to sell more copies of Windows Tablet
OS before it gets included in the main versions of Windows.

Hello Paul,

I like to work in hi res (1600*1200 or above) on a large screen (15"
plus) and so do not want to move to a tablet (I am told the latest
tablets are better, but all the ones I've seen have small low res
screens that are really fuzzy and nasty).

the Toshiba M200 has a nice 1400x1050 display, but only
a 12,1" display - I know.

Depends on what you want to do with your tablet. I guess,
for most situations you don't need a higher resolution than
1400x1050.

Is there some reason why a graphics tablet cannot be produced that can
support tablet ink?

In fact, the digitizer in almost all tablets comes from
Wacom, which is the leading manufacturer of
graphic tablets, too.

The main problem is the operating system. Only
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition supports
handwriting recognition at the moment.

Do you mean to say that I will LOSE the ability to handwright in
future versions of office unless I am using a tablet? I really hope
that doesn't happen. I think it would be one of the few times a
feature has been removed from Office.

No, I don't think so. I guess, tablet pc ink support will
made it into the operating system and will be supported
in future Office versions on desktops as well. But just
a guess...

I have read articles that predict that Longhorn will include tablet
ink. If Office 'Longhorn' does include this and support for graphics
tablets (even if they need to be new, more expensive ones) is
included then losing support for the old handwriting is not so bad.

But there's still a long way to go for Longhorn and Office 12.

Regards
--
Thomas Wenzl [MVP for Live Communications Server]

Share what you know, learn what you don't!
(Deja/Google)

 

[Thomas Wenzl [MVP]]

Hello Paul,

Is it the case that the digitizer on a tablet pc screen is no more
advanced than a graphics tablet?

I guess, there are some high-end tablets that are as good as
the digitzers in tablet pcs, but most graphic tablets aren't
as good in resolution, capture rate, etc.

Is the real reason that only the tablet PC OS has tablet ink
features?

there are also other hardware dependencies. WinXP SP2
has the tablet pc features included, but those features
are only available on tablet pcs.

before it gets included in the main versions of Windows.

the rumors about including the tablet features in every
Windows versions came up a long time after the tablet
pc release.

Regards

 

[Chris H.]

The technology is changing quite rapidly. Whereas the digital recognition
is generally about four times faster on a Tablet PC than the writing pads,
those pads are finding ways to catch up. It won't be long before the two
are close enough the Ink experience won't be poor on a pad any more.

As for the screen size, the "excuse" if I may of wanting the larger desktop
screen space really does go away when you use a Tablet PC. As Thomas says,
the resolution for the displays on Tablets has jumped from the standard
1024x768 (or 768x1024 in portrait mode) in second- and third-generation
Tablet PCs.

Further, the Tablet PC is more like having the comfort of a paperback book
instead of the hardback copy. It is more personal and friendly, because you
hold it, and can be used many more places than a desktop where you're in a
chair at a desk. Even a laptop's use with the screen in a vertical position
and the keyboard between you and the screen is the regular use method, pales
when compared to a Tablet PC.

Since you have pen in hand, and do everything with the pen, you're
"involved" with the screen, instead of having hands on the keyboard and one
hand constantly leaving to navigate with the mouse. A "ploy" to sell Tablet
PCs? I think not, more of a computer of freedom so you're tied to fixed
locations of chair/desk/keyboard tray/mouse and monitor.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone -

 

[Grant Robertson]

To me, a
product for taking/making notes that does not include handwriting
recognition is crippled. I may as well take the notes on paper and scan
them, or just type them up.

Boy, we do get spoiled fast don't we? Myself included. Tablet PC's are
what, two years old, and we already expect handwriting recognition
everywhere. I wouldn't really consider anything crippled until all the
other applications had it and OneNote was still lacking. Considering it
is one of maybe 5 apps that have decent handwriting recognition, as much
as I complain I still consider myself lucky that it works at all.

I like to work in hi res (1600*1200 or above) on a large screen (15" plus)
and so do not want to move to a tablet (I am told the latest tablets are
better, but all the ones I've seen have small low res screens that are
really fuzzy and nasty).

I work on a 21" monitor at 1280x1024 with a second monitor at 1024x768
and my 14" Tablet PC screen is definitely limited compared to that but it
is still plenty fine for what I do with it. I have use it to rearrange
furniture in a Visio diagram while walking around a customer site with
the customer and several others crowded around on all sides. So it was
not as sharp as my other 15" laptop with the 1600x1200 resolution. But I
could have never have done what I did in so little time with anything but
a Tablet PC. I would certainly not say that my Tablet PC's screen is
'really fuzzy and nasty'. It is as sharp and clear as any other 1024x760
14" laptop.

Is there some reason why a graphics tablet cannot be produced that can
support tablet ink?

Probably only because the manufacturers don't see a market for it yet.
Most purchasers of digitizing tablets use them for art and PhotoShop.
When you use those apps you don't move the stylus nearly as fast as you
do when you are handwriting. Only after handwriting catches on and is
available on desktops will they start making tablets fast enough. But
Microsoft says the reason they don't release the Tablet PC extensions for
desktops is that the digitizing tablets aren't good enough and people
would have a bad experience. There is something to be said for not
wanting people to have a bad experience. When it comes to handwriting, if
people have a bad experience (even if it is because they have inferior
equipment) they and all the magazine writers will have a field day. They
will say it is the Newton all over again. Once it has a bad reputation it
will be another 5-10 years before the public will be willing to try it
again.

What Microsoft needs to do is strike a deal with Wacom to include the
Tablet PC extensions with new digitizing tablets that meet the more
stringent requirements.

Do you mean to say that I will LOSE the ability to handwright in future
versions of office unless I am using a tablet? I really hope that doesn't
happen. I think it would be one of the few times a feature has been removed
from Office.

Future versions of Office won't be out till long after Longhorn anyway.

I have read articles that predict that Longhorn will include tablet ink. If
Office 'Longhorn' does include this and support for graphics tablets (even
if they need to be new, more expensive ones) is included then losing support
for the old handwriting is not so bad.

By the time Longhorn really comes out I'm guessing all this will be
worked out. That may even be the incentive they use to get people to
upgrade.

 

[Grant Robertson]

The reason I have previously been given for OneNote not supporting graphics
tablets is that they are not up to the job (capture rates, etc.)

While I can't testify with any real experience I think I have read
messages from Wacom to that effect.

Is the real reason that only the tablet PC OS has tablet ink features?

No, I am pretty sure it is hardware based.

If so
this seems like a bit of a ploy to try to sell more copies of Windows Tablet
OS before it gets included in the main versions of Windows.

Of course, Microsoft HAS built their business on a solid foundation of
ploys for about the past 20 years so what makes you think they would
change now?

 

[Grant Robertson]

there are also other hardware dependencies. WinXP SP2
has the tablet pc features included, but those features
are only available on tablet pcs.

It would be more accurate to say that the necessary files are included in
the SP-2 download, if you download the entire thing, but they are only
installed when the service pack is applied to a Tablet PC.

 

[Grant Robertson]

Since you have pen in hand, and do everything with the pen, you're
"involved" with the screen, instead of having hands on the keyboard and one
hand constantly leaving to navigate with the mouse.

This is a little misleading. While it is possible to do all the same
things with a stylus there are many things that are just far too much of
a pain with just the stylus. These have been discussed many times in the
Tablet PC newsgroup. Calling up the TIP, switching to the keyboard, and
selecting some modifier keys just so you can use some hot-key combination
while you drag the mouse (very common in graphics programs that the
Tablet PC is touted as being good for) is way more of a pain than just
pressing the keys. I can do everything it takes to build a house with
just a hammer, hand saw, and a pocket knife but it is much better if I
use the power tools.

 

[Chris H.]

My opinion, Grant, from the way I use my Tablet PC. It isn't "misleading"
from my experiences. I find a Tablet PC much more friendly and personal to
use than a desktop or laptop.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone -

 

[Paul]

Looks like we have an interesting debate going...

Boy, we do get spoiled fast don't we? Myself included. Tablet PC's are
what, two years old, and we already expect handwriting recognition
everywhere. I wouldn't really consider anything crippled until all the
other applications had it and OneNote was still lacking. Considering it
is one of maybe 5 apps that have decent handwriting recognition, as much
as I complain I still consider myself lucky that it works at all.

Except that Office has had handwriting recognition for a while and (for me
at least) it works OK on a graphics tablet. OneNote is part of the office
family, it is for taking notes, I think it is reasonable to expect it to
have handwriting recognition without specialised hardware (currently
unavailable except in a tablet PC) and a specialised version of the OS.

I work on a 21" monitor at 1280x1024 with a second monitor at 1024x768
and my 14" Tablet PC screen is definitely limited compared to that but it
is still plenty fine for what I do with it. I have use it to rearrange
furniture in a Visio diagram while walking around a customer site with
the customer and several others crowded around on all sides. So it was
not as sharp as my other 15" laptop with the 1600x1200 resolution. But I
could have never have done what I did in so little time with anything but
a Tablet PC. I would certainly not say that my Tablet PC's screen is
'really fuzzy and nasty'. It is as sharp and clear as any other 1024x760
14" laptop.

For what you wanted (and as you have a tablet PC) OneNote worked fine. I
work primarily at a desk. I can touch type but I prefer to use pen input
sometimes (especially when making notes while on the phone). I have a
graphics tablet within easy reach - I'd like to be able to make notes, then
have them searchable afterward (but not actually convert to text at that
point). OneNote cannot give me this functionality.

As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, a stylus is not a superior
method of input to a keyboard or a mouse (or voice). It is just another
method, sometimes more convenient sometimes not. As I spend a long time (too
long) at a PC, I want to be able to make use of whichever method is most
appropriate for the task in hand.

Probably only because the manufacturers don't see a market for it yet.
Most purchasers of digitizing tablets use them for art and PhotoShop.
When you use those apps you don't move the stylus nearly as fast as you
do when you are handwriting. Only after handwriting catches on and is
available on desktops will they start making tablets fast enough. But
Microsoft says the reason they don't release the Tablet PC extensions for
desktops is that the digitizing tablets aren't good enough and people
would have a bad experience. There is something to be said for not
wanting people to have a bad experience. When it comes to handwriting, if
people have a bad experience (even if it is because they have inferior
equipment) they and all the magazine writers will have a field day. They
will say it is the Newton all over again. Once it has a bad reputation it
will be another 5-10 years before the public will be willing to try it
again.

No market for fast digitizing tablets therefore no support for them in
Windows/OneNote, therefore no market for fast digitizing tablets. Chicken
===> Egg.

Why can't there be a message (which you have to tick to switch off) along
the lines of "You are attempting to interpret/convert handwriting to text,
your hardware is not compatible with OneNote, do you want OneNote to try
anyway (the results may be poor)?" ?

I actually liked the Newton, the handwriting recognition (if I recall
correctly, it was a long time ago) was better than Pocket PC (especially as
Newton would learn your handwriting rather than you have to learn to write
the way it expected) and had cool features like offering to insert
contacts/appointments if the notes you made looked they could be interpreted
as such. However, that is a whole other debate.

What Microsoft needs to do is strike a deal with Wacom to include the
Tablet PC extensions with new digitizing tablets that meet the more
stringent requirements.

That sounds like a good plan mutually beneficial to both companies.

Future versions of Office won't be out till long after Longhorn anyway.

Not sure about that - Win95 => Office 95, Win2k => Office 2k. Each major OS
release is generally followed shortly after by an Office release so MS can
demonstrate a reason to upgrade (i.e. a version of office that uses the new
wizzy features of the new OS).

By the time Longhorn really comes out I'm guessing all this will be
worked out. That may even be the incentive they use to get people to
upgrade.

I hope it is worked out by then.

 

[Paul]

Really depends on how you use your PC.

I am *usually* at a desk for which keyboard and mouse is usually the most
appriopriate (comfortable) form of input, though I augment this with voice
and pen (though not as much pen as I would like due to lack of support in
OneNote).

For my work (which includes development work in VB) screen 'real estate' is
a real necessity. High res makes my work much easier and I often set up two
monitors each at 1600x1200 so that I have enough space. When larger, higher
resolution LCD's come down in price I'll increase space/resultion further.
Hence for me, swapping from desktop to tablet really is not a realistic
option on this criteria alone.

I have a 'heavy duty' laptop (for working wireless around the home and
taking to meetings) but would not want to replace this with a tablet until I
can get one with similar screen size/resolution (15" 1600x1200), processing
power (3Ghz) and hard disk (60Gb). Until that time, I'd rather lug my heavy
duty laptop to meetings (and a small graphics tablet if/when OneNote starts
to support it). Also I don't want a third machine (a tablet pc for meetings)
as keeping my laptop and desktop machines synched, patched, etc is hassle
enough (don't talk to me about offline folders - they can't cope with mdb or
pst files so are not a complete solution).

My opinion, Grant, from the way I use my Tablet PC. It isn't "misleading"
from my experiences. I find a Tablet PC much more friendly and personal to
use than a desktop or laptop.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone -

 

[Grant Robertson]

Looks like we have an interesting debate going...

Cool! Paul, you are the first person I have met in here that actually
likes to DISCUSS these things rather than just spout Microsoft rhetoric.
Not counting the newbies who ask questions that can easily be answered by
reading the help files.

Except that Office has had handwriting recognition for a while and (for me
at least) it works OK on a graphics tablet.

I guess I never paid much attention to that feature.

OneNote is part of the office family,

In name only. There are programs written by high-school students that
have better Office integration. In the SP-1 they tossed in a couple of
things that sound good in the feature list but upon examination you can
tell they were just tossed in because they were easy to code. The create
Outlook Contact feature just creates a contact and puts the selected text
in the note. The user then has to cut and paste the note text to all the
correct fields in Outlook. Geez, a high-schooler could do that in VBA in
about 15 minutes. (Except of course NOT in OneNote because it only has
enough of an API to justify saying that it has one.)

it is for taking notes, I think it is reasonable to expect it to
have handwriting recognition without specialised hardware (currently
unavailable except in a tablet PC) and a specialised version of the OS.

I agree. I just gave up arguing the point a long time ago. Microsoft is
dead set on not offering the Tablet PC handwriting engine on anything but
the Tablet PC until (maybe) when Longwait comes out. This is a standard
Microsoft tactic. They will offer a feature as a trial balloon in only
one product. Wait to see if people really like it and get enough people
hooked on it that they can't live without it. At the same time they will
work on code in their OS that secretly interferes with other third-party
versions of the same feature. They have often been caught including this
code in 'security updates' or even updates for other popular software.
(For all you MVP's having fits: No I haven't saved a bibliography of all
these references over the years. Suffice it to say I have read them from
trusted sources like popular computer magazines and reputable authors.)
Granted, handwriting recognition doesn't really need this kind of tactic
because not many companies have the R&D budget to compete with Microsoft
in this arena anyway. Once people are hooked on the feature they will
include it in some new version of a product as incentive for people to
upgrade yet again. Many companies had to install Exchange Server just to
get BACK the shared folders feature that Microsoft yanked out of Outlook.
I think it was version 98 or 2000 that allowed you to share folders
without Exchange Server but the next version didn't. They can cite all
the technical reasons why the Exchange Server version was better but that
is no reason to yank out code that worked just fine for most people.

For what you wanted (and as you have a tablet PC) OneNote worked fine. I
work primarily at a desk. I can touch type but I prefer to use pen input
sometimes (especially when making notes while on the phone). I have a
graphics tablet within easy reach - I'd like to be able to make notes, then
have them searchable afterward (but not actually convert to text at that
point). OneNote cannot give me this functionality.

Have you thought about setting up your Tablet PC in a location that
allows you to use it as a note pad? They claim that the OffLine files
feature works better with ON SP-1. Perhaps you could set the main
location for your My NoteBook folder to be on your desktop, even for your
Tablet (if you get one). Then make those available offline to your
Tablet. Now, when you take a note on your tablet it will immediately be
available on your desktop. I have found that notes handwritten on my
tablet can be converted to text on my desktop. This is because all the
recognition was done at the time you actually wrote it. You won't have
all the options of various possible interpretations available on the
desktop but usually the first one is good enough.

Right now I don't use this system because I got turned off to OffLine
files before SP-1 but Chris Pratley says it is better now and I generally
trust him. He seems to tell it like it is most of the time. I'm starting
to suspect that he hasn't been working at MS long and only came on board
when they bought OneNote from someone else. This is all speculation on my
part but MS has a long history of buying or stealing technology then
claiming they invented it themselves. Naturally Chris couldn't admit to
such a thing and keep his job so we won't ask him to comment.

No market for fast digitizing tablets therefore no support for them in
Windows/OneNote, therefore no market for fast digitizing tablets. Chicken
===> Egg.

I was actually going to say that exact thing but got distracted and
forgot to include it in the message.

Why can't there be a message (which you have to tick to switch off) along
the lines of "You are attempting to interpret/convert handwriting to text,
your hardware is not compatible with OneNote, do you want OneNote to try
anyway (the results may be poor)?" ?

Partly because the initial recognition is done at the time you are
actually writing. Probably because the data to do the recognition is much
more involved that that required to simply display the ink. I think the
way it works is to do the recognition as you are writing, then only
actually store the ink plus the list of possible interpretations in the
OneNote file itself. Since recognition requires watching how fast you are
making each stroke and possible even the angle of the stylus at each
point, I think this volume of data would quickly overwhelm even the
biggest hard drives. So they use what they need to do the recognition
then only keep the results and enough to display the ink. Again, this is
only speculation, but it is the way I would do it.

Not sure about that - Win95 => Office 95, Win2k => Office 2k. Each major OS
release is generally followed shortly after by an Office release so MS can
demonstrate a reason to upgrade (i.e. a version of office that uses the new
wizzy features of the new OS).

I agree except this time I haven't seen much info about any new version
of Office. Maybe I'm just not paying attention to as many sources as I
used to.



Nice talking to you. I gotta get back to my real life now.