Graffiti 2 will be a slightly modified version of Jot, a product created by CIC Corporation to allow more natural writing and the creation of new recognized characters in Palm OS.
This move is widely believed to be the result of an intellectual property suit brought against Palm by Xerox. Palm lost this suit, and in December 2001 lost an appeal. They are continuing to appeal the case, but in the mean time decided to look at alternatives and settled on Jot.
This decision has unsettled a lot of long time Palm users who are so used to graffiti that they find normal writing difficult at best. I'm one of them. I personally took to graffiti very easily and found graffiti creeping in my handwriting within weeks of buying my first Palm OS device. It's an ingrained pattern now, done without any thought whatsoever. I write articles with graffiti. I take notes in meetings and classes with graffiti. I am more comfortable with it than I am with typing. Losing graffiti is not something I look forward to with any enthusiasm.
I don't know anyone who's tried Jot who likes it. I'm sure that I'll get mail from loyal Jot users, but that's certainly my personal experience. And my personal acquaintances expand among the members of several user groups, the leaders of many others, folks who hang out on Palm IRC channels, folks who run other Palm websites, and others. I've literally heard more than a hundred people say they don't like Jot since the announcement.
I myself tried Jot for a short while several years ago. To be honest I don't remember much about the experience other than that I, too, didn't like the product. I certainly admit that much can change in a product in the span of years and will be giving Jot another whirl. But I am not terribly optimistic that I'll find it a pleasant input experience.
Graffiti 2 has already been included in OS releases sent to licensees and should see the light of day in a device by mid-year. I fervently hope that some mechanism for retaining regular graffiti input is available, if not in the operating system itself then through a third party utility. I fear, however, given the overhanging lawsuit, that all traces of graffiti will be gone. If that happens, expect a lot of unhappy long-time Palm supporters.
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