Inkwell, or simply Ink, is the name of the handwriting recognition technology developed by Apple Inc. and built into the Mac OS X operating system. Introduced in an update to Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar", Inkwell can translate English, French, and German writing. The technology made its debut as "Rosetta", an integral feature of Apple Newton OS, the operating system of the short-lived Apple Newton personal digital assistant. Inkwell's inclusion in to Mac OS X led many to believe Apple would be using this technology in a new PDA or other portable tablet computer. However, the only currently available tablet Mac is the Axiotron Modbook, an aftermarket MacBook with a replacement screen that allows utilization of Inkwell.
Inkwell, when activated, appears as semi-transparent yellow lined paper, on which the user sees his or her writing appear. When the user stops writing, his or her writing is interpreted by Inkwell and pasted into the current application (wherever the active text cursor is), as if the user had simply typed the words. The user can also force Inkwell to not interpret his or her writing, instead using it to paste a hand-drawn sketch into the active window.
Inkwell was developed by Larry Yaeger, Brandyn Webb, and Richard Lyon.