Pen-Based Computing History Museum
Under Construction
2026 / SUMMER EXHIBITION
GCFeatured Exhibition

GO Corporation
and the Vision of
Pen-Based Computing

GO Corporation's PenPoint, released in 1991, was the first operating system designed from the ground up for pen input rather than keyboard — pioneering gesture commands, embedded handwriting recognition, and a notebook metaphor that would echo through every stylus and touch system that followed.

GO Corporation and the Vision of Pen-Based Computing
Now on view
Permanent collection
Artifacts
Approx. 30,000
Catalogued
148
Timeline span
1987 — 2007
Recorded events
1468 milestones

Exhibitions
now on view.

One Special Exhibition Drawn directly from the museum's collection of artifacts, magazines, and primary documents.
GC Featured Exhibition
Under Construction GO Corporation and the Vision of Pen-Based Computing

GO Corporation and the Vision of Pen-Based Computing

GO Corporation's PenPoint, released in 1991, was the first operating system designed from the ground up for pen input rather than keyboard — pioneering gesture commands, embedded handwriting recognition, and a notebook metaphor that would echo through every stylus and touch system that followed.

Explore →

Featured artifacts.

From the collection 18 recently catalogued objects, drawn from 148 in the permanent collection.
View all artifacts
EO, Incorporated 1993
EO, Inc. - Pen Expo Attendee Letter (August 26, 1993)

EO, Inc. – Pen Expo Attendee Letter (August 26, 1993)
EO, Incorporated 1993
EO, Inc. - Introducing the EO Personal Communicator Brochure (Front)

EO, Inc. – Introducing the EO Personal Communicator (Brochure)
PenMagic Software Inc. 1993
PenMagic LetterExpress 1.1 Product-Fact Sheet (Front)

PenMagic LetterExpress 1.1 (Product Fact Sheet)
PenMagic Software Inc. 1993
PenMagic LetterExpress 1.1 Upgrade Letter (Front)

PenMagic Ships Upgrade to LetterExpress (Press Release)
WPDO 1993
WPDO Meeting Improvement Questionnaire (February 11, 1993)

WPDO Meeting Improvement Questionnaire (February 11, 1993)
GO Corporation 1993
GO Corporation - Catalog of Products and Services (Letter)

GO Corporation – Catalog of Products and Services (Letter)
Eidetic, Inc. 1994
Eidetic, Inc. Notion: The Newton List Manager User Manual

Notion: The Newton List Manager User Manual
Metrowerks, Inc. 1996
Metrowerks CodeWarrior Tools for Pilot Package (Front)

Metrowerks CodeWarrior for Pilot (Package)
General Magic, Inc. 1996
General Magic Visitor's Badge (John Jerney, 10/25/96)

General Magic Visitor’s Badge (John Jerney, 10/25/1996)
ParaGraph International, Inc. 1997
ParaGraph International, Inc. CalliGrapher 5.0 for Windows CE Disk (Front)

ParaGraph International, Inc. – CalliGrapher 5.0 for Windows CE (Disk)
GO Corporation 1992
GO Corporation - GO Fax Brochure (Front Cover)

GO Corporation – GO Fax Brochure
Apple Computer, Inc. 1994
Apple eWorld (Stickers)

Apple eWorld (Stickers)
Texas Microsystems, Inc. 1995
Texas Micro – The Soldier’s Computer (Brochure)

Texas Micro – The Soldier’s Computer (Brochure)
Horizon House Publications, Inc. 1994
Microwave Journal – January 1994 (Cover)

Microwave Journal – January 1994
Apple Computer, Inc. 1994
Apple Newton MessagePad – Getting Through the Day … (Brochure) – 1

Apple Newton MessagePad Getting Through the Day … (Brochure)
Avail Technology, Inc. 1994
Avail Technology – Free TapWorks Software Coupon (Front)

Avail Technology Free TapWorks Software (Coupon)
Peterborough, Inc. 1987
Portable 100 Magazine – September 1987 (Cover)

Portable 100 – September 1987
Mobile Insights, Inc. 1995
Mobile Insights ’95 Conference (Side 1)

Mobile Insights ’95 Conference (Brochure)

A chronology.

1987 — 2007 Selected from the museum's 1468 catalogued timeline events.
View full timeline
1992Software
First Public Showing of Calendar and Scheduler, Pen-Based cc:Mail
Lotus provides a preview of technology enabling cc:Mail to take advantage of pen-based computers. cc:Mail was demonstrated running under GO Corp.’s Penpoint…
1994Organization
Mitsubishi Electric Joins General Magic Alliance
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Wednesday announced it will join the General Magic Alliance and make an investment in General Magic Inc.
1995Hardware
Fujitsu Personal Systems’ Stylistic 500 is World’s First Windows 95 Tablet Computer
Fujitsu Personal Systems, Inc. broke new ground in mobile computing with the industry's first implementation of Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system on…
1998Software
Documents To Go Brings “Office” to the Palm Computing Platform
DataViz Inc. announces a new synchronization product that brings important files from office suite applications like Word, Excel and others to the…
2000Event
Applied Biometrics Invited to Demonstrate at Upside Showcase, January 25 – 27, Palm Springs
Kryptic Pilot is the first in Applied Biometrics' family of low-cost, ultra-low power consumption, fingerprint identification products.
2001Hardware
IBM Debuts the ThinkPad TransNote at the Mobile Insights Conference
ThinkPad TransNote provides a solution for highly mobile users who are looking to combine pen and paper with a mobile computer.
2002Software
Metrowerks Announces CodeWarrior Tools With PersonalJava Technology Provide Commercial Advantage for Developers Creating Applications for Symbian OS Mobile Phones
Complete toolset for Symbian OS phones speeds developers' time to market.

The collection.

Browse 148 artifacts Indexed by category from the collection.
    ZO

    Zoomer

    2 items →
    YI

    Young Ideas

    3 items →
    EI

    EO Incorporated

    17 items →
    AO

    AOL

    2 items →
    CO

    Correspondence

    2 items →
    CO

    3Com

    4 items →
    VO

    Volksware

    8 items →
    BR

    Brochure

    8 items →
    ST

    Sticker

    1 item →
    TC

    Thaddeus Computing

    2 items →
    FS

    First Pen Systems

    1 item →
    OU

    Olivetti Office USA

    1 item →
    RO

    Royal

    1 item →
    MC

    Mobile Computing

    1 item →

    Pen-Based Computing,
    the newsletter.

    Eight volumes · Sixty five issues The original newsletter — every issue digitized in full (soon).
    Pen-Based Computing – January 22, 1991 – Volume 1, Number 1

    Volume 1 · Issue 01 Pen-Based Computing – January 22, 1991 – Volume 1, Number 1

    16 pp
    Pen-Based Computing – November, 1991 – Volume 1, Number 5

    Volume 1 · Issue 05 Pen-Based Computing – November, 1991 – Volume 1, Number 5

    16 pp
    Pen-Based Computing – August, 1991 – Volume 1, Number 4

    Volume 1 · Issue 04 Pen-Based Computing – August, 1991 – Volume 1, Number 4

    16 pp
    04 · Donate

    Donate an
    artifact.

    The museum collects hardware, software, manuals, photographs, marketing collateral, oral histories, and ephemera related to the early history of stylus-based computing.

    Learn how to donate →
    05 · Subscribe Coming Soon

    PBCHM
    Monthly.

    Learn about new acquisitions, recovered manuals, oral histories, and unearthed discoveries.

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