In this third part on the history of pad computing, we’ll look at one last early dream and the first touch of reality.
1987 – Knowledge Navigator
During the John Sculley years, Apple loved a good concept video. The company produced three featuring the Knowledge Navigator, a device it considered the future of computing. Much like a concept car, nothing like it was ever produced.
The Knowledge Navigator was a large flatscreen that folded shut like a book. It featured video conferencing, access to networked data and automatic translation. Most importantly, it had an interactive assistant that looked like a human butler.
The assistant was part of the agent craze that was in vogue at the time. It wasn’t enough that a program managed information, it needed to have an onscreen persona. This thinking led to the Office assistant, perhaps the most derided feature Microsoft ever created.
1987 – GO Corporation
GO was founded to create portable computers and an operating system for running them. They pioneered a lot of work in the area of pen-based computing, but never saw any significant sales.
GO created the PenPoint OS, one of the first geared entirely for pen use. It had many breakthrough features, like using gestures for commands throughout the system. GO would later sue Microsoft for patent violations.
1989 – GRiDPad
Things got a whole lot more real with the release of the GRiDPad, arguably the first true pad computer. It was a portable device with a 10-inch stylus-operated display and a 386SL processor which enabled it to run DOS-based software.
Information about the GRiDPad is scarce, but it appears it was used by Chrysler for inventory management. Ruggedized versions were also sold to the U.S. military.