Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 517
WallsRSolid writes "Microsoft just finished a week-long series of lectures and demos at my university, and the product that really stole the show was the Tablet PC. I was in a room with probably 150 hardcore linux users, and it seemed to me that the demonstration just floored them (the entire lecture hall CHEERED a Microsoft product). I believe that Microsoft's own online hype literature is insufficient in describing just how powerful their Tablet concept is. A July preview, Acer's propaganda, a press release about their initial success, and a behind-the-scenes account (good article) of the enabling technology. Oh, and the input stylus is electromagnetic, not pressure-sensing, ANY document (not just MS) can be annotated, and the journal software is AMAZING in its power and flexibility."
My problem with M$... (Score:5, Interesting)
Almost there (Score:5, Interesting)
timing (Score:2, Interesting)
Since the PDA craze is still hot, I suppose a new piece of hardware with some new, nifty software features is enough to get this thing some thumbs up. I've always wondered why there weren't hinges on laptops like this one. It seems like a no brainer (touch screen or not - a mouse/stick/pad on the side of the screen would have worked too).
It all about timing. Flexibility is finally "in".
Chinese Characters (Score:5, Interesting)
A herculean task to input these characters into an electronic document? Hardly. In fact I think it's quite the contrary. I've had experience with many Japanese who actually find it easier to type out their language phonetically and have the computer list potential chinese character matches than writing by hand. This saves them from having to recall stroke orders for obscure characters, and is actually faster. Typing two 10 stroke characters phonetically may take four or six key strokes, which is much quicker than 20 hand written strokes.
But then the article then goes on to point out that they have algorithms for two to four stroke characters. This makes me think they are only looking to allow input via Hiragana or Katakana - the phonetic based Japanese character sets. Maybe they understand that the task of recognizing characters with upwards of 15 strokes is overkill and maybe simply beyond reach right now.
WTF? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've yet to see a house full of Linux "hardcore" geeks even warm up to a Microshaft presentation. And I've lived in the "geek world" for many many years.
Just so you know: I have seen the Tablet PC; and most of the people (techies) who were with me were thoroughly unimpressed. I don't know what "Linux crowd" you hang out with, but check their foreheads for butterflies....
Handwriting on a Screen (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't be too sure (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wondering what's a Tablet PC? (Score:3, Interesting)
IBM just used it ala mouse-input. Microsoft is allowing people to use digital ink as a first class citizen in the computing world. It's a whole new way of looking at computing.
TabletPC is not some sort of handwriting recognition on steroids, it is a way of combining standard text with ink-based input, and allowing you to freely go between the two without effort.
fun for artists (Score:4, Interesting)
On the other hand, right now, when I see the pictures all I can think is that it looks like a comically over-seized PDA.
guerilla marketing (Score:4, Interesting)
The post might as well have been straight from a textbook. No facts, just unsubstantiated hype.
The question is: who is the poster working for? Acer? Microsoft?
(And the next question is, why is Taco falling for this shit?)
Re:My problem with M$... (Score:1, Interesting)
Here [the-labs.com]...
Re:how long.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:waiting with bated breath (Score:5, Interesting)
This, boys and girls, is exactly the reason Microsoft is so successful. More power to them. When was the last time you heard the average person waiting with baited breath for Red Hat 8.0 to come out? "Look! It now supports a new video card that shipped in my machine 12 months ago! Woohoo!"
Not a flame, just an observation. Microsoft really knows how to stir up the troops and get them excited over nothing but cybercrack. Open your wallets folks and enjoy the ride, I sure do.
Re:Don't be too sure (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:My problem with M$... (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course I prefer the keyboard anyones. My handwriting, like most nerds brought up on a lifetime of computers and typing, is absolutely positively atrocious.
Apple (Score:2, Interesting)
Hmm, there's Inkwell [apple.com] for OS 10.2 and the iBook and TiBook are over-due for an upgrade.
Will Apple do it too? Most importantly, will they do it better?
Re:unbelievable (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh, and the input stylus is electromagnetic, not pressure-sensing, ANY document (not just MS) can be annotated, and the journal software is AMAZING in its power and flexibility.
Whatever makes you think that this comment was submitted by a Microsoft promoter?
Could it be the fact that he was able to pick out the 150 linux users in the crowd and knew that they were "floored" by the Tablet PC demo?
This submission has stink written all over it. Good call.
Re:What's wrong with a keyboard? (Score:2, Interesting)
For example: There are not very many general contractors (construction workers) out there using laptops. If they need to get an idea across of what they need, they probably need to draw a picture, and they're not going to take the time to open up *Cad and diagram the thing out.
Now... this isn't a new idea. Next time you get a delivery from UPS, look at the thing the delivery guy is carrying, that's basically a tablet PC.
The problem with the Tablet PC market right now is that only big companies really use them. It's not been out there enough for your average person to know where to get one, or even that they could. The reason MS doing this is great is that it opens up another large group of people to the digital age.
Really On The Right Track (Score:5, Interesting)
Comments from people who have never or barely used the machines should be discounted. The work done at Microsoft Research in the area of merging bitmap and vector algorithms and compression/journaling (per the "behind the scenes account") is far beyond anything of which I am aware on any competing platform.
That said, the resources necessary to accomplish the promoted tasks are large and will affect battery life. When the machines debut on November 7th and become integrated into the lives of the targeted audience, I believe it will become clear that, this time anyway, Microsoft is farther down the road than anyone else.
About half of all Americans cannot type or efficiently use a keyboard. Not surprisingly, that's also about the penetration of PC use in the general population. This could be Microsoft's bid to achieve similar penetration of such appliances as the television and the telephone.
What I'd like to see... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:What's wrong with a keyboard? (Score:3, Interesting)
In order to get people to enjoy using a computer it either has to be reasonably adaptable to their needs, or very tightly targeted.
The iPod is a perfect demonstration of the latter. It's a killer MP3 player. It has a few extras, but those are just icing on the cake, rather than something people expect of it. Thus every new feature is a treat, rather than an obligation. The iPod is also quite successful.
The problem with a tablet is that it has a relatively big color screen and versatile input. I expect to be able to do pretty much anything I can do on my iMac on an iTablet. I expect a tablet to be fully functional without depending on a desktop for anything(and for that matter, I don't want a concept where removing the tablet from the equation cripples my desktop).
But this means that a tablet has to have pretty much everything a compact, yet fully-featured(like the iBook, rather than one that requires a "docking station") laptop. Double hinged screen or not, the "tablet" then becomes cumbersome. My Mead 70 page notebook doesn't weigh nearly as much as even the lightest laptop.
The tablet concept is something that wants to be too many things at one time. It either has to wait for technology to become light and thin enough to make truly lightweight, non-crippled laptops, or it has to be more specifically targeted as a middle ground between the laptop and PDA. Right now it's just too close to being a laptop with a fancy screen to distinguish itself from that already-saturated market.
Highly pre-mature attempt.. (Score:5, Interesting)
When I brainstorm, sketch, diagram, etc. I use paper and pen. When I write, program, or do anything else structured, I use a keyboard. I have precisely zero need or desire for one of these "Tablet PC's."
Now, a real piece of innovation would be "electronic paper" nearly as flat and flexible as the real thing. Think 400dpi with a reversible draw/erase stylus. But it should be dumb--nothing more than a reflective monochrome bitmap device. You draw to turn pixels on and erase to turn them off. And it's only interface would be to transfer these page bitmaps to and from my desktop or laptop. (where I can do character recognition if I really need it) This electronic paper would also be excellent for reading books, newspapers, docs, man pages, etc.
Re:Wondering what's a Tablet PC? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:apple dropped the ball? (Score:2, Interesting)
First, I tried it on a Wacom tablet hooked up to a flat screen iMac at an Apple Store. Horrible. Don't bother. My accuracy was quite poor. It was really quite a struggle to use. I know that Inkwell "learns" your handwriting but I think my poor accuracy was the disconnect between watching the screen rather than my hand as I wrote.
A few weeks later I tried the Wacom manufactured Cintaq LCD pressure sensitive display when I was at the OS X O'Reilly conference. It was fantasticly better in terms of handwriting recognition. The difference was amazing. One other very cool thing about the Cintaq display was that it could be put at different angles. Though the demonstrator had it in a vertical screen like orientation, most people seemed to find it more natural to have it in a much flatter orientation
It wasn't perfect though. What was odd though was switching between the different modes. I'm not sure if this was simply the way the demonstrator had the display set up, but there were definitely three different modes. One was as a mouse replacement (clicking, dragging, etc). One was with the handwriting recognition (I've already described). And one was as a pressure sensitive drawing mode (very cool in Photoshop and Painter). I'm not sure what caused it to switch modes (a button on the pen? something in the interface?) but it certainly wasn't obvious. All of the modes operated wonderfully well individually, but it was the thing that needed the most work.
After the Newton fiasco, I think Apple marketing deliberately doesn't want to appear to be "first" with handwriting technology. My suspicion is that they are refining the hardware and software (by taking feedback from those using it in the wild) but that they want Microsoft to take the first attempt at marketing the technology far and wide to the public and perhaps even fall on their face with a sloppy first implementation.
If Microsoft makes handwriting recognition a technology the general public wants, that's great. Apple will already have it on their checklist as well. But if Microsoft makes huge promises and fails to deliver a good implementation, Apple's marketing can come along saying "This is what they were trying to do. We got it right."
My bet is that the next big release of Mac OS X (ten dot free) aka Panther will have lots of bug fixes and enhancements to make consumers long for new Apple hardware. Things like autoconf-enabled 802.11g base stations, Firewire 2 ports, faster graphics cards, and possibly writable LCD displays.
I think Apple wants to be cautious about overpromising its abilities (Lest it gets the same rep as version 1.0 of the Newton did).
Re:Credit Where it's Due (Score:2, Interesting)
1. I do not use Microsoft products on any of my personal machines (All of my machines at home have Linux with GNOME, and Open BSD here thank you very much)
2. I don't agree with Microsoft's licensing, pricing or business practices.
3. I only use XP at work and on the laptop that my job provided me with. Doesn't cost me a cent...
But... Windows XP Professional is the best product I've seen come out of Microsoft. It offers features that make working VERY easy. The revamp of the Start menu is very well thought out. It provides immediate and easy access to the applications that you use the most (In my case Cygwin bash and Cygwin X Server, CMD, Windows Remote Desktop, Cicso VPN client) by listing them directly on the Start menu in order of the frequency of usage. It also provides immediate access to IE and OE, (if you use them. I removed them from the menu and use Phoenix. My mail client is still Evolution via X) as well as the typically accessed:
-My Documents
-My Recently used Documents
-My Pictures
-My Music
-My Computer
-My Network Places
-Control Panels
-Administrative Tools
-Connect to... (An agreggate of dial-up, WLAN and LAN connections tha tyou can choose from. Very helpful for laptop users to allow quick connect/disconnect)
-Printers and Faxes (Combines the old Printers and Faxes applets which used to be separate)
and of course:
-Search (hate the little dog though..)
-Run... (By far the most useful menu option for accessing remote file shares, the CMD prompt and quick access to notepad)
Then it also has the "All Programs" sub menu which gives you access to the rest of the less used programs on the system.
The Log Off button makes logging out (or even suspending a session to let someone else log on) a snap.
I'd have to say that Windows XP really makes some great improvements on Windows 2K. Anyone who has problems with Windows XP Pro, is probably fairly inflexible. Keep in mind, I am not saying that such a person is not bad. Mac users are fairly inflexible in that they don't want to move from their GUI paradigm to the Windows paradigm. Most of my co-workers (Windows fans all of them) don't like XP either and always go back to Classic View. I forced myself to stay with the native XP view and have found that it is actually a lot faster than Classic View once you know where everything is. as much as I hate to say it, MS did a great job with XP. I haven't had any problems with it so far.
I think that we developers in the Linux/OSS/GNU world need to take a good look at XP and see what it offers that we can improve upon. We already know that Linux/UNIX is stable, secure, robust, etc... Those are important factors. But so are the factors that real users see: Ease of use, quick and efficient ways to access data and applications, intelligent environments. For anyone who is working on developing software for "Joe Average", we need to think about having the apps learn their user's usage style. Not in the annoying way that MS does it. MS tends to be application-centric with regard to intelligent applications (that learn what you do). The intelligent applications should be user-centric. Where they learn what a user does, and rather than suggest or force the user to do something (Office assistant and the Start menu listing the most recently used applications), it builds a list of options and notifies the user with a dialog to select the way that they want to do the task. The dialog can be dismissed or filled in and submitted. The machine won't have a need to ask the user about that approach again. Just a simple example. The point is that MS is getting better at doing what the users want. We as developers for the "other side" can't forget that the users are what matter, not the apps or the OS...
It Never will be a big deal (Score:3, Interesting)
Now if they came with bolt holes so we can bolt them to the desk..
Microsoft HARDWARE (Score:4, Interesting)
Say what you want about Microsoft's software, marketing, and management... but their hardware products are amazingly good.
Believe the hype (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:What's wrong with a keyboard? (Score:2, Interesting)