Microsoft Hypes XP Tablets

Dejohn writes "Just got back from the Microsoft Tablet PC launch event here in Seattle. Aside from a couple of application lock-ups during the demonstration (they claimed internet access was down at the demo center and was causing the difficulties), the new technology looks very cool. Microsoft Claimed it 'will recognize all your handwriting unless you can't read it yourself.'" They clearly haven't seen my handwriting. I ran into one of the Motion guys at a Starbucks in Boston and I got to see one of these machines in person and it was quite pretty. No reason you can't run Linux on them from what I saw. Additionally, Dan writes "Sure, CNET's editors got a good look at them and even the mainstream (free registration required) likes this stuff, but didn't South Korea supposedly have these last year, and running Linux at that?"

Comments

only if your standing

[asv108]

I could see using a tablet for specialized applications, where you would be standing while using the machine, but besides that, this tablet hype will die down real quickly even if the technology is only in its infancy. Tablets will never replace laptops for most users, because the keyboard is much more effeciant than handwriting.

Walt Mossberg had a good article about tablets in journal this morning. Personally, I think that in five years we will be laughing about "tablet hype" much in the same manner that we laugh about "thin-clients" and "push technology" today. I'm still waiting for the day when everyone uses word processors through the browser.

Re:Cool.

[HughsOnFirst]

I have a Dauphin pen computer that I got in 1994 or so. It ran some microsoft thing called "windows for pens" and it was pretty good with my handwriting which is pretty amazing since my handwriting is so bad that I can't read it myself and haven't written in script since high school.
It seems that bad handwriting can be easier for software to recognize than good handwriting

It ran on a 25mhz cyrix sl486 with 6 meg of memory and a 20 meg hard drive and it worked remarkably well. I wrote my first web site on that, ran Netscape 0.x ...

Try using a laptop while walking. Pen computers are great for that.

Re:It is not the hardware it is the software

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, PDA running Linux such as Zaurus, and others, does handwriting recognition adequately.
I personally have a Zaurus.

I do not think hand writing recognition is very difficult at all, and many AI techniques can be use to adapt the system to owner hand writing

Re:How do you do 2-button mice?

[marauder404]

I don't have access to one, but this is what I understand ...

How do these tablet PCs recognized input from the stylus... do they have a touch screen?

The screen is touch sensitive, yes, but only senses proximity and contact from the stylus, which is electromagnetic. This means you can rest your hand on the screen as you write, as you do with a regular piece of paper. This is different from "stabbing" or "scratching" with a stylus on conventional PDAs. It also senses proximity, which means you can navigate through menus by hovering over the screen and not touching it.

Is the Tablet PC handwriting recognition better than OS X's inkwell?

I hear it's an excellent system. Whether or not it's better, I don't know, but it is considered by many to be the best system yet. It recognizes handwriting anywhere on the screen going in any direction.

How do you 'right-click' with the stylus? Is it something like control-click on the macs? Is there anything like a scroll wheel?

The stylus has two buttons that can be programmed, one of which would presumably be a right-click.

Re:Next-gen paper

[spectecjr]

These WILL NOT succeed until they are as easy to use and as convenient as paper. Numerous companies have tried to produce what is essentially a laptop with a pen attached, and failed miserably. Most applications are horrid to use with a pen. It will require a handful of revolutionary applications to make these things fly.
Think: replace PAPER, not nifty-new-gadget. I want to download my textbook in PDF format, and annotate it. I want to take notes in class (including math and drawings) and then organize them the way I do files on my computer. But if I have to spend a lot of time clicking and tapping to input my notes, it will fail. It has to be as easy as, or easier than paper. It's hard enough to both listen to the lecturer and transcribe the blackboard, without having to deal with the input mechanism not doing what you want it to...


Textbooks:
Step 1. Install Microsoft Reader.
Step 2. Download Textbook. (Requires your textbook to be in an e-book format).
Step 3. Open it, and annotate it onscreen using the pen, as if it were a real book.

Happy?

Why not go to the website - www.tabletpc.com - and actually look at some of the screenshots of their apps. You can even make *your own handwriting* bold, or italic, if you really want to.

Simon

Re:Possible Cool Uses

[inkey string]

just have to rep for a bit of uwaterloo controversy here...

every unix geek is rebelling at the possibility of a ms prescence on campus, but the one thing that made me think of this when i read your comment was the following.

"A new team of UW researchers intend to collaborate to develop a pen-based mathematics manipulation interface engine to enable Microsoft's Tablet PC to enter, manipulate, and interact with complex formulae."

this is quoted from the above link which was intended to clarify exactly what the ms funding would entail... everyone's up in arms, and the debate isnt over yet.

Handwriting Recognition

[Anonymous Coward]

I was a volunteer for the handwriting recognition group at Microsoft, so I know a little bit about how much MS has put into this technology. They have been getting random people from Redmond and other cities around the world to come in and write for an hour and a half each day, up to 2 days a week, on some kind of older-style tablet PC. This has been going on for OVER FIVE YEARS! I did it for the last year and a half, because you got free software in return (ebay), and ended up paying more than having a real job.

I saw prototypes of these Tablet PC's about a year ago at the research building, and it was impressive. The amount of work that has gone into this is astounding.

Last year?! People have had these for a decade.

[aussersterne]

This has been repeated over and over ad infinitum, but since it pops up in the topic again, I'll answer.

Lines of full-fledged tablet PC's with both digital ink and toggle-on-off-able handwriting recognition have existed for a decade. The original impetus for the IBM ThinkPad line was the PAD concept. Fujitsu has the Stylistic. Casio has the Fiva. Panasonic has a tablet PC or two, as do several other manufacturers.

Years ago I had a Fujitsu Stylistic that ran Windows 95 which had Microsoft pen extensions which would recognize my cursive handwriting, allow me to doodle, mark up Word documents and Excel spreadsheets with revision marks, take notes in "digital ink" and optionally recognize them later. I took notes on it in school. Everyone 'ooh'ed and 'aah'ed even though the machine was already years old. Apparently, people are still 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing.

This isn't new. The marketing push is new. The technology has been around for ever in technology terms. Prices aren't even all that steep. Go to eBay and search for 'Fujitsu Stylistic' and you'll find yourself a whole gallery of Pentium-based tablet PC's in the $100 range which can run Linux (see http://www.linuxslate.org) or Windows 95 with pen extensions.

If anything is interesting about this, it's the following question: if so many people are so excited about this technology every time they see it, how come it still isn't very well known?

gnu/linux handwriting recognition already done

[FreeUser]

If the digitizer is already accessible (which it is if others, e.g. S. Korea, have already been using them with GNU/Linux), then the handwriting tools have already been written.

My Ipaq running Linux recognizes my handwriting just fine. So does the Sharp a colleague of mine has. I do not know if sharp's software is free(dom), but the software running on my ipaq is.

Re:You guys are mising the point

[GlassUser]

Exactly. I would be a lot more effective if I could have a phone/pda and a tablet pc, with a drop station (so it works like a desktop at my desk) and a home server (so I can have everythign synced and backed up from a central location). Currently I have a dumb cell phone, an ipaq, and a desktop, and it's just not flexible enough. I have to carry two bulky devices where ever I go (phone and pda), and I have to maintain my desktop. And keep a server colocated or beside my desk to run email, web, and home services.

If I had a tablet, I could leave my USB devices (printer, keyboard, mouse, camera, scanner, joystick, etc) plugged into the base, and drop/pull the actual tablet as needed. Of course the phone/pc could sync as needed, either with the tablet or the home server. When I want to walk around hands free, I keep the phone clipped on my belt (like I have to already). On a job or expecting to take notes, I can keep the tablet on me too.

Obviously, not everyone has the same lifestyle as I do, but just because you don't see any use for having a tablet yourself doesn't mean you need to knock it.

UPS probably won't be using XP Tablet Edition

[nurightshu]

I can't speak for FedEx, and when I say that I'm speaking "for UPS," it is not the official view of my employer, my country, my neighbor, or that guy in the lobby of my apartment building who talks to the wall.

That said, speaking for UPS, we use the DIAD III (Delivery Information Acquisition Device, revision III) for delivery scans, signature tracking, and even communication with the package car drivers. The DIAD runs off a Motorola processor (couldn't tell you model number off the top of my head, but I think it's a custom job and not commodity) and a custom-built OS designed by the good folks at Corporate Technology Support Group headquarters in Mahwah, New Jersey. They've already got built-in signature pads, cellular modems, and bar-code readers, but no touch screen.

Rumor from our corporate cognoscenti has it that the DIAD IV will be similar to a tablet, running a bastardized version of MS Pocket PC 2002, and exchanging the keypad currently present for a touch screen. Also in the works are integrated two-way GPS support (broadcasting the location back to the delivery center and receiving driving directions in return for unfamiliar addresses) and two-way voice communications to replace the text messaging currently used. Net result should be a better tool for the drivers to get packages delivered more reliably.

Speaking of reliability, in the two years I've worked in the Northern Plains hub building, I've never seen the DIAD Control System software package fail, despite the fact that it was originally written for OS/2. Pretty robust code.

Re:been said before

[marauder404]

I don't want to tell you that this is machine is the one for you and at the risk of being condescending, I feel like you just read the short clips about it here and there but you didn't see the pictures. Honestly, I felt the same way -- I didn't think it was the next big thing at all. But after seeing some pictures and doing a lot of reading, I'm convinced that it's worth a second look. It may not be for me, but I'm definitely going to check it out.

Anyway, I think all of your concerns are already addressed. Take a look at this Compaq Tablet PC. It's 0.8" thick, has a detachable keyboard, weighs 3 lbs (4 lbs with the keyboard), and opens up more or less conventionally. I would like it to be thinner, but that'll come in time if this goes anywhere. It's not the panacea that Microsoft makes it out to be, but I think you'll agree that it's worth a second look. I also hope that the handwriting recognition is fast enough to keep up with me -- I hear that it scans 133 times per second and makes several guesses at what you're trying to write and anticipates. When it misses (something like 5 out of every 10,000), it'll present some options.

Here's a comparison list of Tablet PCs and some specifications. It looks somewhat out of date and incomplete, but it gives you an idea of what will be available soon. I would like to see larger, higher resolution screens, but that, too, will come in time.