Today I has going to write about how great of a job windows 7 does in handwriting recognition.  I was going to say what a great job its doing with both my print and cursive writing. But then I found out about a small, but very annoying issue.  See I’ve actually tried to write this twice now. But somehow the cursor moved, so when I went to insert the text it went to the void, never to be seen again.  this really sucks, because the handwriting recognition is really that good So this flaw that causes you to Completely lose your text is just that glaring. In some ways its kind of funny. Just about everywhere else in windows there are multiple levels of undo, yes/no boxes that get in the way and so on. But not in text conversion.  So the moral of that story will be to hit the insert button often, and make sure the insert cursor hasn’t moved.

As I play around with handwriting recognition, I do have to wonder though.  Is this a technology that missed it’s time?  You may have heard that type is soulless.  You can’t derive feelings from a typed page like you can with a written one.  There is a visual clue as to a persons feelings as you look at how ones handwriting flows and loops, or how much more messy or neater it is from what you are use to from that writer.  Even how much pressure somebody put on a pen could let one one if the writer was hurried, or excited.  There are those who made a career out of interpreting  this, However most people could pretty much figure it out from notes and letters from friends. If I were to type or write a line of pure sarcasm it would be easily understood in a written note, but usually confused in a typed one.

The problem is, for me at least, I can type faster then I can write. Even with the high rate of recognition, and the the speed at which I was writing, I still can typed twice as much in the time it took to write the first paragraph. I know that’s not true for everybody, for that matter, most people who Graduated High school up to the mid to late 90’s typing was more of a after thought.  I have pain stakenly watched many people hunt and peck there way though typing on the computer.  However this is becoming less of a case for those that are graduating now.  Were I was the odd one (for more reasons then this one admittedly) posting on forums back in the glory days of Bulletin Board Systems. Now there’s Blogging, and Facebook or Twitter micro-blogging, web based forums are a form of support, people are publishing there own web pages and so on.  My kids, as part of there Elementary school Academic requirements, are taking computer classes that evolve on how to type or use the mouse to answer questions.  It’s definitely come a long way from the Apple PC that was in the library, that you could use if you wanted to, but was in no way required.  So i think it’s safe to assume that the successive generations will be more efficient typists then they are writers. Of course… y can’t type english…lol.. haha..is another story..ROFLKOPTR!!!11!!!!! *sigh* there are some that make my “version” of bad English still look awesome.

Where then does that put us as far as a need to write, with ether “pen and paper” or digitally. Well for one, it’s still easier to transition from text to graphics and graphics in meetings or class.  Graphics could be flowcharts, org charts or other such “Knowledge diagrams”, maybe a sketch up of a scene for a film or photo storyboard and such. Though programs like microsoft word have things like smart art, you’re still stopping one task and calling up or inserting some other program.  One thing that is well noted as a reason for keyboard shortcuts is to avoid having to take your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse to do what ever needs to be clicked on.  so in this transitioning it’s more efficient to be using a pen or stylus/tablet then to be typing.  Medical disabilities could also limit the ability to be able to type properly making handwriting a more efficient tool.  Lets also not forget that a pen / pencil and a notebook of paper is lighter then most laptops, and can be used for days, weeks, months, after the laptop would run out of power, even though it’s limited to the amount of paper and ink that you have.  There’s still something to be said about not needing power.

Well I have to stop this mental exercise for now, maybe I’ll come back to it later, as it’s time for me to get going.  What do you think? How long will we as a collective whole be writing instead of typing?