Microsoft Tablet PC: Could It Change EVERYTHING? (1 Viewer)

[Chuck C]

Man, I just checked out Microsoft's Tablet PC (avail. 11/7). It's laptop meets palm pilot. Just view the demo b/c there's too much stuff to describe:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/
What kinda hardware is this thing backing?
Has anyone else been tracking the tablet pc?
Could it change the face of computing today?
Will EVERYONE HAVE ONE!!!?!?!

 

[Steve_Ch]

NO. Had been interested in tablet computing for more years than I can remember. Fujitsu, among others, has a full line of tablet product (most Windows based) for years now and some of them are industrialize (rugged). It has always been a niche product. I just saw the Sony sleek tablet PC that was launched a year or so ago gone on clearance in one of the online clearing houses. The highly rated IBM Thinkpad Transnote (which just about won every sinlge PC award the year it was released) was discontinued in less than a year after product launch.
Personally, I think the touch screen and pen idea is great for navigation (replacing the mouse, why people still spending all these energy on the mouse, which is 30 years old and have an endless list of short comings, is totally beyond me), but for actual handwriting recognition, it's a niche, just like voice recognition.
I have tried just about every single piece of handwriting recognition hardware and software, but to me, none as good as the keyboard, and some of them are quite good. Pretty much the same can be said about voice recognition stuff, they are getting quite good, but one either loves them or can't stand them, so far, people that loves either handwriting or voice recognition are still a very small minority.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

I disagree with Steve: the business world, now dominated by palm users and laptops, would embrace this technology if they felt it was a standard that was being supported. With microsoft forcing this down everyones throat, I won't be surprised at all to see them be considered THE business tool for next year.

If they just make them slightly thinner- I can't see anything holding them back.

-Vince

PS: I think the first stage will be the hybrid ones- the laptops that have keyboard but allow tablet style writing on screen. Ince that is incorporated into the major laptops- I think you'll see a migration towards tablet style interfacing en mass...

 

[Kevin P]

I like the idea of a touch screen for navigation; e.g. to replace the mouse, but I can type MUCH faster than I can write longhand, and my penmanship stinks, so give me a good old keyboard any day. The mouse can go, though...

KJP

 

[Todd Hochard]

It has always been a niche product.

I think this is true, only because of the cost.

I'd love to have one in my home, on a wireless network- full web surfing, add remote features for HT control- for the right price, of course.

Todd

 

[gregstaten]

I'm with Todd. I can easily see myself sitting out side on a nice spring/summer Sunday morn surfing the sunday papers on a tablet pc. I already have a wireless network in my house and plan to add a home server next year. A tablet pc is a logical next step.

-greg

 

[Josh Lowe]

I spent a few hours using a prototype Compaq tablet PC a few weeks ago. It's awesome. We also just received our MS Select copy of WinXP Tablet PC Edition last week.

Based on my experience with the Compaq, it rocks. The one I tested has a 1ghz Transmeta Crusoe CPU, 256 megs of RAM, a 40 gig hard drive and a battery that lasts 4 hours. It had integrated 10/100BaseT as well as 802.11A and B wireless networking support. It has a detachable keyboard and looks/operates just like a regular laptop until you remove it from its keyboard for full tablet use w/ the stylus. It also comes with a nice docking station. I think these things will eventually replace laptops entirely.

I like the idea of a touch screen for navigation;

just a little fyi - the tablet PCs don't have touchscreens. they have glass screens with sensors underneath the displays. You use a stylus that has some kind of integrated transmitter. The drawback with this though is that if you leave the detachable keyboard at home and then lose your stylus, you have no way to input data into the PC.

 

[Steve_Ch]

My opinion is not based on technology, as eventually, technological difficulties can be solved, but I just do not see people writing long hand for except in very limited situations. My nephews, and they are in the early to late teen age groups, grew up with keyboards, I don't even think I can remember seeing them "writing" anything.
For many years (and this goes back more than 10 years), I was involved in desktop video conference development. I was a true beleiver too, as I used to have to travel a lot and video conference just make total financial sense. Even 10 years ago, desktop technology was quite good, and the cost per station was no more than a single business trip per person. The idea never take off, even now, with all the problem and cost of traveling post 9/11, VC is still a niche market, and a very small one. My conclusion from that whole experience is people's habits, once set, is almost impossible to break. Even with the pocket devices, people want keyboard if the application involves more than minimal typing, Blueberry is a prime example.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Well, I really think part of that (and forgive my ignorance) comes from a lack of standards. You'll notice a lot of technology gets bogged down because there is not necessarily a standard-- or at least customers don't percieve a standard.

I mean- there are several technologies that I skipped until a real standard emerged, allowing multi user compatibility. Once a particular platform is embraced and developed for, you see a lot more people being willing to grab the bandwagon, so to speak.

I think, while tablet computing has been around for a while, really it has never seemed like a real viable standardized interface. Just like PALM- the idea of a PDA type device was around for a while- and once PALM OS started catching on, it became something that spread very quickly.

-vince

 

[Chuck C]

Just like PALM- the idea of a PDA type device was around for a while- and once PALM OS started catching on, it became something that spread very quickly.

Funny you should mention this...I just saw a video in my marketing class that dealt with Palm and product life cycles. Palm started off as a software company that made software for failed PDAs like the Sharp (maybe Casio?) Zoomer, Zaurus and others. When those products fizzled out, Palm possessed the expertise in the software deferment, so they improved on the shortcomings of other PDAs (simplified, cheaper $300 vs. $800) and promoted their product by letting salespeople demo Palm Pilots to customers (I'm sure we've all seen the early displays at office max). Then USrobotics bought them and now they're GIANTS in their field.

Similarly, Microsoft has the software that other tablets do not have (yet) i.e. Windows XP Tablet PC edition which uses advanced pen recognition software (the same idea as Palm's 'ink' software). I think we're also seeing wireless technology support for the first time or at least huge promotion of 802.11a/b wi-fi. It'll be exciting to see how this things turns out.

 

[Robert_M_Jones]

I have been playing with the Compaq model for a few days now. Really impressive that they can get all of those features into such a small device. I can see these easily replacing laptops. Keyboard is optional and its rather thin without it...