Actual Handwriting Recogition: could it be?

For those of us who were brought up typing papers on computers and whose handwriting subsequently looks like chickenscratch (hey, I can read it), handwriting recognition may never be an option. But the rest of you might be one step closer; IOGEAR has recently released a digital pen that may make handwriting recognition easier and more natural. It works similarly to a regular pen; just fill it with ink, attach the wireless clip transmitter, and write on a regular piece of paper. Your notes, tables, and even your doodles are digitized on the fly. Included software allows instant editing and supports 10 languages (English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, French, Dutch, Italian, German, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian).

My favorite part: this could allow us to throw those slow and bulky Tablet PCs out the window eliminate the need for labs to have workstations set aside for handwriting recognition; this works on -any- PC running Windows 2000 or better, and promise to be significantly better than Wacom tablets (which have the same tactile problems the current Tablet PCs do). Has anybody seen these in action, or been lucky enough to use one themselves?

[via gadget lab]