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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?"
The real question is.. what is the point? What can I do with my Tablet PC that couldn't already be done with PDA, laptop or desktop?
it's been said before, but it bears saying again. i, like many of you, was raised on a keyboard. my data entry skills with a keyboard are much higher than handwriting; in fact, i'd be so bold as to say that's the case with most people of the "computer" generation.
Unless they develop some killer feature (yes yes, in ADDITION to Linux support, these notwithstanding) I've got absolutely no intention of purchasing one. I'll buy a laptop or another desktop -- my PDA is good enough for incidental use, and, conveniently enough, fits in my pocket as opposed to my backpack...
As I read the NYTimes article, and saw that most tablets included keyboards, it became clear once again that Bill Gates isn't really predicting the worldwide takeover of tablet PCs ("Within five years, I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America"), but rather that within five years, most laptops (already on their way to market dominance) will feature detachable screens and a design which allows them to be used in a completely flattened-out manner.
Okay, that's nice. It's good. It'll definitely lead to new applications (read: everything that would work on a PDA if only the screen were larger), but given this level of "innovation," they probably won't be coming from Microsoft.
No way.
And more memory. More convenient to carry around than a laptop. Touchscreen interface. Come on, you know why these will be great.... you can take your pr0n anywhere!! And as a bonus, just wait for interactive DVD's that really make use of that touchscreen....
You can run an app in 1024x768. You can run Word and Outlook. You can play Counterstrike and aim/shoot by tapping the stylus on the screen.
.NET mag a few months back) they supposedly didn't catch on because they were like twice the cost of regular laptops. MS is hoping that vendors can make Tablet PCs cost competitive with (high-end) laptops, and thus at least one barrier to entry will be gone.
Not sure why you'd want to do that (except for the Counterstrike thing, that would be cool.)
The killer app of the tablet pc is supposed to be the "ink" technology that reads your handwritings. The reviews I've read say functionality is mixed...kinda like early voice recognition I guess. Alas I think ink is not as cool as MS does, because who doesn't know graffiti by this point? Or who can't learn graffiti in like thirty minutes? And typing is still way faster than handwriting and requires a lot less cpu...
People who handwrite stuff for a living are reluctant to actually start using a computer. They think it's beneath them (doctors at least feel this way -- to them it's data entry. ewwww.) Also the way business processes have been put together, there's a person whose job it is to take handwritten stuff and convert it to computer text, clean it up and so on. THis devie would force a paradigm shift, and ink isn't probably a compelling enough reason to change.
Being able to rotate the display from landscape to portrait, to set up the device as just a display which is secretly a fully functional computer, all that sounds pretty cool to me. Maybe it will impress clients if your sales team shows up with tablet PCs -- kinda like the receptionist always has a flat panel display. I could see browsing the web as more "fun" on a tablet, but making this slashdot post would kinda suck. (My handwriting is atrocious, by the way. But I also know how to type 40wpm.)
When tablet PCs didn't cathc on five years ago (warning: these thoughts are ripped from the article in WIndows
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...
Oh, and 3 hours of battery life? Forget it. That won't get me though one day's worth of classes.
-- Bob
1^2=1; (-1)^2=1; 1^2=(-1)^2; 1=-1; 1=0.
Did you look at the site? You use the tablet at your meeting, you return to your desk and dock it (sideways) and use it as your monitor as you go about your business with keyboard and mouse.
Its like carrying your computer with you to your meetings. Better than a laptop, because you don't have to have table space to set it on, and you don't appear to be hiding behind it. And, hopefully, it weighs less.
It seems like the most natural interface. While you're out, you write on it like a notepad. You get back, and you type with your keyboard. How's that better than a yellow legal pad? I can pull up the design document on the arcane subject we wandered into on my tablet. Everyone else is stuck with what they printed out to bring along.
I think it would be a good thing, even if the handwriting recognition is lousy. Which, of course, they claim it isn't. Who knows, on that account?
-Zipwow
I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
Most people who spend a couple of years at the computer quickly realize a few things about keyboard-based text-entry:
1. It is faster than handwriting.
2. Other people can understand what you type.
3. It is easier on foreigners who use other forms of writing (like Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or Arabic languages), in other words it is a better way to communicate in an increasingly global society.
I consider Tablet PCs a step back in the communications department. Does it have good points? yes, like the ability to draw doodles, figures, and graphs easily (that is still faster today to do it by hand than by computer commands, but only for simple graphs). My guess is that Microsoft engaged on such a proyect solely because "the man" Bill Gates transformed it into his pet project. On a small side note, if there really wanted this thing to succeed at some level I'd have done the following:
1. Focus on vertical industries only, in areas and industries where this type of devices are commonly used.
2. Develop technology to extend battery life to at least a full working day (say, 10 hours), since these devices are *supposed* to be carried arround all day, that's the point; what good would it be to have it docked recharging every 2 hours for 3 hours? for that case simply buy a laptop.
Finally, like many have commented on the net, this seems to be a breed taking everything a PDA and a Laptop does, but not taking into account the benefits of each (portability, simplicity, and battery life).
Botton line: pass this one on, and instead buy yourself a superslim notebook and a PDA-Phone like a Handspring Treo. You'll even have money left to buy some accessories.
I can't wait until someone writes a unicode handwriting recognition tool that lets me input greek letters and funky math symbols and also lets me input equations... And then imagine interfacing all of that with something like mathematica :)
:)
...and if you like mouse gestures, you could do even more with a stylus, right?
Oh and it would be cool to draw a rough sketch and have the software automatically clean it up into a nice publication-quality diagram.
Sure I can do this stuff now with latex and canvas... but a tablet computer would make this so much easier... and more fun
I'm sure there would be use in non-technical stuff too... how about networking these things to a white board during a meeting or teleconference where everyone can draw on the same white board? Or what about drawing charts and diagrams for reports?
Also drawing could be a form of data input. Say for playing starcraft and drawing out a path for a unit.
Whenever these things take off, I'm sure there will be all sorts of cool new applications for them... I'm just not sure if they'll take off just yet.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
The head article said "No reason you can't run Linux on them" - well I can think of one really big one. The driver to understand the handwriting is going to be in software, and would need to be reimplemented from the ground up if you stick a different OS on it.
I can't imagine that being a trivial task.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Not trying to troll, but when is it useful to save scribbles? Usually, I scribble on a napkin or whatever, but this isn't all too coherent. It's usually only useful to me when I make it a bit more coherent, and usually typed. How long do people keep srcribbles? It doesn't seem like it begs for being stored any longer than it takes me to lose it.
...
At what point am I going to look for something I scribbled 2 years ago?
I only see this useful for people who t y p e r e a l l y s l o w . .
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
they won't run with linux because they rely on handwriting recognition tog et the most out of them.
Which is the sort of high price, patent encumbered research (a bit like OCR) which open source struggles with.
And don't go thinking this is coincidental with MS's love of the platform.
'There is a Light that never goes out.'
It's not enough to just run linux on it. The tablet actually has to be useful.
These things come with Windows XP Tablet edition, which has built in handwriting recognition software and special software tailor-made for the touch screen input. How much mature open source software is available for linux to make this worthwhile? Can you flip and rotate the screen on the fly with it? How easy is it to use and how well integrated is it with Xfree? Sure, some of the Zaurus apps could be ported... but point is, XP Tablet edition Works. As well as many other micro$oft products anyway, and to an end user, that's more than Good Enough.
Just be wary of knee-jerk reactions to MS, that's all.
You're assuming that you *have* to use the tablet to enter in data. The keyboard isn't eliminated. It's just an accessory now. You don't have to drag it around with you if you don't want to, but when you get home, you just plug in your keyboard and mouse and you're ready to go. I see little downside to getting a Tablet PC other than added cost, which will probably go down -- the market will decide by how much.
I have one...
./, just read it and second, I've been using Linux for years now. I'm by no means a guru, but I have set up my own web, database, dhcp, etc. Linux servers, and I really like the Tablet PC. For the people who don't know what benefits it would provide over a palm I just have to say, try it. The ability to really take notes in your handwriting, then save as handwriting, recognize the text behind the scenes, search for the text in the note, email it as text or handwriting to people, etc. is really useful for people like me who spend a lot of time in meetings. Sure you can take notes by typing, but try to enter a flow diagram or org chart, etc. with a keyboard. Plus, notebooks with keyboards are really accepted in meetings, the tablet is.
1. The screen is not touch sensitive. I believe it's called electro-magnetic, but don't flame me if I'm not technically accurate. The bottom line is that touching the screen with anything but the pen has no effect, and that the pen does not have to actually touch the screen to move the mouse pointer.
2. I have not used OS X's inkwell, but the handwriting recognition it truely impressive. You do not train it. They sampled 100,000's peoples handwriting and wrote algorithms to recognize against that. So you stand just as much or a chance of getting incorrect results with good handwriting as with really bad. I find on english words its 99% accurate. On things like email addresses, forget it.
3. The device I have (a Fujitsu) has a rocker-switch in the pen that when pressed one direction and "clicked" on the screen provides a right click, when pressed the other direction provides an erase capability.
Just, FYI, I'm posting anonymously because I never post to
I've had mine for about two months now, running a beta version of the OS and have honestly only had it lock up or BSOD maybe a dozen times, and I'm a developer doing development on it.
There are going to be people who are going to badmouth it just because it's from MS, but if somebody in the open source arena came up with exactly the same thing, they would love it too.
Mick
I know /. is known for representing teh mainstream non-techs who respond to "Dude, you're getting a Dell" commercials, so when I read about average consumers, I think of my 50-somthing uncle who hates computers and uses them every day.
I ask myself, would my uncle (and thus, the populous) buy this thing? The answer is no. I conclude this by the following:
* A pen is faster When my Uncle needs to write something, he isn't going to always be near his table PC and it isn't going to always be on and ready to write on. Plus, he can leave pens all over his home/car/office.
* A pen is cheaper There is no WAY he will shell out thousands to write on a computer. He wouldn't even shell out $99 for a Palm Zire.
* If he drops a pen, I doesn't break A pen goes in his pocket, it can be sat on, it can be lent out and kept and no big deal.
* A pen allows for expression He can underline, write really big or in all caps or circle stuff with a pen. He can make a note adn stick it somewhere.
*A pen gives feedback With a pen you "feel" what you are writing, slow, fast, pressing hard or lightly, etc. With (given, CE or PalmOS aren't the same) the tablet PC, there is no such feedback.
So I think this tablet may have application for people who can't type but need to do data entry. But mostly, this is what people were clamoring for ten years ago, just being delivered today. Sorry...times have changed. I have no need for this device.
Oh look, a computer!
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
Microsoft Claimed it 'will recognize all your handwriting unless you can't read it yourself.
Gee...that's funny...I type a lot faster than I write. Of course, maybe that's why Handspring got rid of the letter pad and replaced it with a keyboard on their Treos....
This is "innovation"?
moto411.com
I'd imagine that this would really help people who use Photoshop a lot, like me. After all, I drew with a pencil on paper longer than I drew with a mouse, or any other such device.
Seriously people, Linux is great for programming, running servers, and basic business productivity; but Windoze just has better support from third party bussinesses when it comes to content creation. Not to mention that windoze can be a lot more idiot-friendly....(not a flame)
So this TabletPC isn't really for Linux Fans, let's just agree on that. Then we may find some practical applications for the overpriced Tablet.
They keep pushing tablet pc and they get a lukewarm reception from consumers....the companies that make these things keep forgetting that price and usefulness drives a new market.
All this talk about "tablet PC's" is a waste until they are being sold for around 250.00 to 500.00
why would I spend 2000.00 and up for it? you would have to be an idiot to spend that kind of money when you can get a High end laptop that has tons more functionality or a pda which may be small but is also relativly cheap. I will tell you what a tablet pc would be good for. when you want to browse the internet in bed or on the pot. it would be better if it was a wireless device for your PC. now THAT would be usefull.
: if so many people are so excited about this technology every time they see it, how come it still isn't very well known
IIRC, hypertext was first demonstrated in 1968, and people who saw the demo got really excited. Then of course there is the infamous XEROX PARC deal where they demoed a fully functional GUI and all the suits could come up with was "How can we attach a copier the size of a refrigerator to this?" The rest is history. It may take the muscle of MSFT to not only hype the technology, but also to take customer feedback, respond to it, and create a winning product. I mean, sure they had a mouse back in the 1960s, but it's a long way from an upside-down trackball the size of a softball to the first GUI Mac. I don't mean to say that the earlier tablets are that crude; but sometimes you need just the right refinement to push something into the mainstream.
Now that we have smaller, cooler CPUs, the time may be right. The "ooh that's cool" feature has always been there. What will be new is the "hey, I can use this all the time". Before it was "this gets heavy, hot, and uncomfortable after a while, and the software doesn't work well enough".
Once again, the Simpsons has something to say about this: "Beat up Martin" --> "Eat up Martha", followed by Nelson throwing his Newton. So... when I get a chance to test one, "Beat up Martin" will be the first thing I write.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
There is plenty of Linux handwriting recognition software out there (among others, from the handhelds.org effort), and speech recognition software can be adapted for handwriting as well. And X11 has had provisions for alternative input methods for many years. Ink notebooks, annotations, and all that are old technology as well and are not all that difficult to code up.
The only thing that has been missing up to this point is reasonably priced hardware. Now that that is there, Linux will move into that space as well.
These numbers still have to be entered into a computer later on to be crunched (via excel usually), errors happen as a result of messy handwriting transferance, resulting in big headaches. Solution: Use the tablet PC to enter the numbers directly into excel as they're standing at the machinery. Crunch there. No mess, no errors, instant results.
This is the market of the tablet PC. Not your uncle.
-
Oh, you mean it is like an X terminal?
(Sorry, just had to)
It seems like 95% of the posts here all trumpet the same theme..."I can input faster with my keyboard." This is true, but I challenge you.. can you input faster with your keyboard while standing up?
That's the point.. The problem with traditional laptops is that they are essentially useless in the hallway or standing in line. The tablet PC's are more like really big PDA's, they are designed for the executive/professional that spends a large part of their day on two feet. They provide keyboards on most models for those "other times," while still affording them the ability to make use of their machine virtually anywhere.
For example, my Father in law is an insurance auditor. Right now they have a laptop that they use to fill out reports after inspecting the sites. They can't write the report during the inspection, after all their laptop is worthless while they run around inspecting things. With a tablet PC they can use their traditional PC applications to fill out their reports without having to scribble notes onto paper and then transfer them to the laptop at a later time... They spend their days on their feet, and this looks like the perfect answer for them.
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