Scanner technology is improving every day, and manufacturers are constantly producing new, more powerful scanners for the home and small business market. If you buy a capable scanner today, it will continue to do its job, and it will never become obsolete unless it breaks and can't be fixed. However, there are trends to watch for over the next few years:

Optical character recognition (OCR) Software. Translating patterns of dots into text is one of the most difficult jobs a computer can do. OCR software is far more accurate now than it was a few years ago, and you can expect improvements in the future, particularly in the translation of complex documents like newsletters or preprinted forms. Luckily, future OCR releases will probably work with your scanner. If you're heavily involved with OCR, keep in touch with the publisher of your software and ask about new releases.

Faster, smaller, better. From the hardware standpoint, today's scanners represent a steady evolution of technology, and you're likely to see continued improvements in speed, resolution and color handling over the next few years. Manufacturers will also concentrate on usability, making their units smaller and more efficient.

Standard equipment. Also watch for scanners to become standard equipment with some computer systems, just as CD-ROM burnersand DVD players are standard now.