Windows XP Handwriting Recognition vs. Tablet Edition

ritepenThe evaluation I am doing of the Viliv S5 UMPC with the touch screen has brought to light how unfamiliar most folks are with the advanced features of the Tablet PC. There are UMPCs and now netbooks with touchscreens that run Microsoft Windows XP and I’m hearing from folks who claim that the handwriting recognition of Windows XP is the same as that on Tablet PCs. This is very far from the truth, and you should be aware of the major differences between the handwriting recognition of the Tablet PC and the crude function of that of plain Windows XP.

First and foremost, the plain Windows XP handwriting recognition is built as a simple, alternate text input method. You ink your text on the screen and XP converts it into digital text in some programs. The Tablet PC recognition, on the other hand, is an ink handling system that makes it possible to ink into any program. You should be aware that the XP recognition engine is very crude when compared to that of the Tablet Edition. It is not the same beast at all.

Crude handwriting recognition can be enabled in plain Windows XP through the Regional settings in the Control Panel. While it’s not the sophisticated recognition engine of the Tablet Edition, it may be enough for some people to allow text input. Just be aware that the accuracy of the handwriting recognition is nowhere near as good as that of the Tablet Edition. You also do not have the ink input tools that make the process easier on Tablet PCs with just the Windows XP version of the recognition.

It is of particular importance to realize that using OneNote on the plain XP version is not as complete an experience as you might think. Right off the bat you should know that while you can ink in OneNote using plain XP, that ink cannot be converted to text and will never be searchable, a major loss of functionality as described in this KB article by Microsoft:

When you are not on a Tablet PC, OneNote no longer has access to the handwriting recognition engines of the Tablet PC. As a result, although you can still capture digital ink in the same ways as on the Tablet PC, the sample rate will be the lower 40 samples per second, and the ink cannot be converted to text. The ability to search handwriting is also dependent on the recognition engines. Therefore, that capability will not be available either.

This makes it clear that if inking in OneNote is important to your work then you simply must look at the Tablet PC. Plain Windows XP will never provide the ink-handling features that you need in this case. It is important to note that ritePen is an alternate solution that may get over this loss of functionality for some.

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