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Informal
Software™ launches enotate™ software in the UK* enotate
software to revolutionise the desktop computing experience by turning
PDAs into the NEW '4th peripheral'
* New funding from Hanson Capital to provide up to £2m to
grow USA and European operations
June
13, 2000 - Informal Software today launches enotate in
the UK, software which fundamentally changes the way people can
communicate and share ideas electronically by enabling handheld
devices such as Palm( personal companions and other personal digital
assistants (PDAs) to become the electronic equivalent of pen and
paper. enotate software allows individuals, for the first time,
to sketch ideas, create handwritten notes and electronically annotate
Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, digital photos and more
thereby turning PDAs into the '4th peripheral' to be used alongside
the traditional mouse, keyboard and display.
Informal
Software's enotate software allows PC users to communicate and express
themselves in a natural and informal manner and brings the most
intuitive communication process to the PC computing experience,
namely that of writing. enotate fosters a closer link between PCs
and PDAs adding new value to hand held stylus-based devices widely
used on a daily basis.
Ian
Cullimore, president and CEO, Informal Software, said: "For
years, interaction with our computers has been quite regimented
and, in a way, cumbersome. Keyboards and mice are great tools for
inputting information and navigation but they don't allow the user
much flexibility to be creative with their computers or provide
a free reign to express thoughts or ideas simply on screen. We developed
enotate to fill the gap using the now ubiquitous PDA as the platform."
Sketches
and mark-ups created on a PDA are seen both on the PDA's screen
and the PC monitor in real-time. This permits users to follow the
natural flow of writing and avoids the challenging task of looking
at a PC screen while writing on the stylus-based device. enotate's
unique design enables the creation of drawings, maps, layouts, floor
plans, diagrams and even doodles. The software also allows users
to mark up, or annotate, existing files such as Word documents,
PowerPoint presentations and digital photographs with informal comments,
changes, circles and arrows, and conventional editing marks in much
the same way as they would with pen and paper. Such notations can
be written directly on top of these documents and erased without
alteration to the original document.
Informal Software has today received an investment of up to £2m
from Hanson Capital, an investment bank specialising in providing
corporate finance and venture capital to small to mid sized technology
companies. This will fund Informal Software's growth in Europe and
the USA providing resources for research and development, marketing
and operational activities.
Ian Cullimore said: "We are delighted with Hanson Capital's
investment in Informal Software. Cash raised will allow us to establish
new channels to market for enotate and forthcoming products and
build company profile and awareness in Europe and the USA. We will
also be investing considerably in our research and development programmes,
looking to quadruple our R&D team to 30 staff."
enotate software currently supports Palm, IBM WorkPad and TRG Pro
devices, Microsoft Word 97/2000, Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000 and
digital images in common formats such as JPEG, BMP, TIFF and PCX.
enotate is available from the Informal Software Web site (www.informal.com)
for $49.99. A comprehensive user guide accompanies the downloaded
software. The guide can also be downloaded separately.
About
Informal Software
Informal Software provides innovative software solutions that enable
a stylus-based device, such as a Palm, to be used as a direct PC
input/output device alongside the traditional keyboard, mouse, and
display. Unlike pen tablets, drawing/sketching software packages
or other pen-based computing solutions, Informal Software's unique
'Informal Interface' allows these stylus-based devices to interact
naturally with a personal computer in a manner analogous to pen
and paper. Informal Software's enotate allows PC-based electronic
documents, sketches, and/or digital photos/drawings to be 'marked
up' and/or annotated in real-time, directly from a stylus-based
device. In addition, enotate allows initial concepts such as informal
sketches, layouts, drawings, maps, etc. to be expressed in a natural
fashion on an electronic medium. With enotate, users will for the
first time, be able to naturally and intuitively represent and communicate
electronically the true 'gist' of information, messages, thoughts
and statements using a digital document or image. Informal Software
is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with research and development
carried out in the UK.
For
more information about Informal Software and enotate, visit the
web site at www.informal.com
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