🚀 go-pugleaf

Date: Mon 30 Apr 84 20:42:45-PDT
From: uw-beaver!ERIK@SRI-AI.ARPA
Subject: Japanese Macintosh
To: Info-Mac@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA
Cc: Erik@SRI-AI.ARPA

The Japanese Macintosh indeed poses a set of problems different from the
modifications required for European products.  We want to find the best
way to make Macintosh approachable, attractive and affordable to 
Japanese customers.   Xerox J-Star, IBM 5550 and NEC PC-100 are some of 
the systems we have evaluated in our quest for solutions and models.  The 
phonetic input method is indeed becoming a standard way to tackle the 
problem of Kanji.  Better solutions (such as Xerox's J-Star) do grammatical 
pre-processing before conversion into Kanji, thus significantly simplifying 
the task of the typist.  Meanwhile, Apple will put out a Kana Macintosh as a 
stopgap solution until the full blown Japanese (Kana/Kanji) system is 
ready.  The majority (if not all) of the Japanese MANAGERS do not type and 
prefer to handwrite their notes: a keyboard is still associated with a typist 
or secretary.  Simplifying the typing process will certainly help in making 
computers more appealing to managers.  I hope this answers some of the
 questions raised by the Macworld article on International Macs.

                Joanna K. Hoffman
                International Marketing Manager
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