For many of us, this input system, which is called Jot, was only of theoretical interest until the folks at CIC ported it to the Palm Computing Platform. One night in August, Palm organizer enthusiasts discovered that Jot for the Palm device was available for $39.00.

What is Jot?
Jot is a essentially a replacement for Graffiti, the handwriting input system used on the PalmPilot. Developed by CIC, it is the handwriting input system of choice on WinCE machines. Although this is a dubious distinction, occasionally the dark side does get things right. Many Mac users may remember drooling over Windows ability to use ALT + Tab to quickly switch between open applications.

If you have used Graffiti, then you already understand the basics of jot. You input text in the Graffiti area, but unlike Graffiti, you may also input text anywhere on the screen. This is similar to the shareware program Screenwrite. When you input text on the screen, you see the outline of letter you are writing as you write it (much like the program TealEcho or handwriting entry on the Newton). I have found this helpful in improving accuracy, but after I have become reasonably proficient, I wish there were a way to turn this feature off. As in Graffiti, letters are input on the left side of the screen and numbers are input on the right side of the screen. Unlike Graffiti, the area in the center of the screen, indicated by a pair of up and down zones in the Graffiti box, is used to create capital letters.

Benefits of Jot
Should you buy Jot? The comparatively hefty $39 price alone will certainly discourage many users. I don't think that $39 for a piece of software which might dramatically improve my Palm Computing experience is a lot of money, but with the Palm hardware being so reasonably priced, many of us have a mindset that most programs should cost between $12-19 dollars. Go figure! CIC has a 30 day money-back return policy if you are not completely satisfied. As of this writing, no demo was available for Jot, but the need for one was being discussed. The most obvious benefit of Jot for users who have not learned the Graffiti system is that it uses a character set closer to that of "normal handwritten" English. New users should be able to get up to speed more quickly using Jot than using Graffiti, as shown in Figure A. When jot is installed, those characters peculiar to Graffiti (like the loop k or one stroke t) cannot be used. You can, however, keep Jot installed but turn Graffiti off.