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New Tablet PCs With A Linux Option
Oliver Wendell Jones writes "InfoWorld is running an article about a new kind of inexpensive (starting under $800) tablet PC that runs your choice of Windows 2000, Windows XP or the Lindows distro of Linux. The PC is called the DocuNote and features an 8.4" touch screen with digital camera and microphone. The PCs are being created by a company called StepUp, which is formed of a lot of people from the old eMachines organization. DocuNotes are scheduled to start shipping in mid-December."
'It's basically a cheap imitation of Windows.' at which point the customer says:
'No thanks, I'll go with the genuine thing.' As I said, Lindows does nothing for Linux and in fact probably strengthens Microsoft's ability to sell its OS.
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A few things of note:
1. You CAN run Linux on a MS Tablet PC. No one's stopping you. Woo hoo.
2. These have TOUCH SCREENS. MS Tablets have electomagnetic pens, kinda like a Wacom tablet. NOT pressure sensitive like a touch screen.
3. MS Tablets have XP Tablet Edition, with the handwriting recognition/Ink software. Linux doesn't, and seeing the state Linux fonts are currently in ("Linux fonts are fine!! Just copy the TrueType fonts from Windblo... um, nevermind"), I don't think handwriting recognition software is on its way anytime soon (and before anyone brings it up, SourceForge projects below stage 3 or 4 DON'T COUNT).
So what we have here is a glorified Palm running linux or WinXP. Glue a touchscreen LCD onto a brick PC and you're done. Wahoo. I can go back to sleep now, because this in no way offers competition to the MS-based tablets. HAND.
Given that Jobs killed the Newton essentially because he hated Scully (for a detailed discussion, I strongly recommend either "The Mac Bathroom Reader" or "Apple Confidential"), I don't see Apple releasing a handheld soon unless it's so radically different from everything else that Jobs can claim with a clear conscience that it takes no inspiration from the Newton. That Ink made it in to OS X at all I find absolutely incredible.
One of the reasons seems to be that Lindows is going out of their way to form partnerships w/ hardware companies. Maybe I am wrong, but I don't get the impression that the other distros are really making a push to make hardware deals (except RedHat, but they only seem to partner for servers). It seems that most distros just sit around and hope the manufacturers come to them.
It's very inexpensive compared to the REALLY expensive, up to $2,500 options from Microsoft and the usual high profile H/W vendors.
Would I buy one if it has the right form factor and usability? hell yeah! I'm a consultant and go to meetings all day carrying a similar size and weight leather portfolio for note taking, PLUS a Sony Clie and stowaway keyboard (on a combined cleather case) for my electronic needs (more extensive note taking during longer meetings, PIM stuff). With one of these tablets I'd probably end up with one, more powerful item where I can take all kinds of notes and have all my apps instead of their lighter sucky versions found on PDA's. Besides, have you ever been able to organize legal pad notes? I haven't.
And this is just one applciation for a tablet PC. I'm sure there would be plenty in all kinds of jobs, like civil engineering, construction, etc.
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those with good memory.
Correct. Apple has always been a conservative company, which is why it was slow to introduce the GUI, the mouse, the handheld, and stayed for so long with typical beige boxes. There's no way they're going to abandon their aging Mac OS kernel with a powerful Unix-based one, for example.
Note I didn't say they invented these things, but Apple as a company did not survive this long by waiting to see if it can play catchup.
Made from the former people of eMachines? If they are trying to scare me from buying a tablet PC they are doing a very good job. I have never had more problems with a single brand of PC and yet now they are going to start producing tablet PCs and expect them to work?
The typing issue is trivial. I'm nearly certain you can plug in a standard keyboard (it's basically still a laptop, after all), and for those occasions when you can't, a simple app could put a keyboard on the screen and you can type on that.
Also, there's a neat gadget ( http://www.time.com/time/2002/inventions/rob_keybo ard.html )
that could be incorporated pretty easily, although I'm sure it's not in the machine under discussion. (Sorry if the URL is broken in half -- I couldn't figure out how to fix it.)
That's just one reason I consider a passive touchscreen (anything which can depress it can activate it) to an active one (has a special pen that is the only thing that will activate it.)
Here's a few others:
* Losing your stylus doesn't require a $15-$20 (at least) replacement, and render your machine completely dysfunctional until you get it.
* It allows software to become much more intuitive. The original concept of a mouse was to simulate being able to touch the objects on the "desktop" and move them around. The objects will still be a simulation, but the touching will be reality.
This has one medium serious drawback, of course. It means Apple was right to stick with a one-button mouse all this time...
* It opens up a whole bunch of new interface interaction possibilities. For example, to address the one-button,two-button,three-button issue, you could tap with one, two, or three fingers. (Some of the stuff that's been done with right-clicking I actually like. I'd rather not give it up.)
Even more, it makes possible interactions that could not possibly be done with a mouse, such as moving a window around with one hand and resizing it with the other at the same time (or resizing with two fingers on the same hand); or moving two windows (maybe even three or four if you've got big hands and coordination) at once.
How'd you like to design a web page layout by literal "hands-on" design? Eye-hand coordination is built into the species. Remote control devices like mice, trackballs, graphics tablets, etc all make it more difficult to use your mind for the creative, aesthetic side of the work. (Geeks, who usually don't have any aesthetic sense worth speaking of, and who use mice and keyboards more often than any other object, will not get as big a boost in productivity. Sorry.)
Add to that any other activities that involve multiple fingers (musical keyboards, 10-key pads, phone number pads and so on), and I consider a passive touchscreen a much better option than One Pen to Rul... Sorry, started to get carried away.
This article and many others convince me that Lindows is just what we need to bring GNU/Linux to the masses.
They're engaging in very aggressive, very smart business.
Firstly, naming it Lindows. Sounds like Windows, but doesn't violate the trademark, as a US Court found; partially because, to the dismay of the fuckwits at MS, they don't have rights over everything that sounds like Windows; partially because, as the court also found, Windows is a generic name. This move makes it more likely that Windows users will convert over.
Secondly, making their website look like Apple's Web site, and making their default desktop setup looking like a mix between WinXP and OSX. This helps to bring over Mac and Windows users.
Thirdly, aggressively pursuing OEMs and third parties to sell PC's with Lindows pre-installed. The partnership with Walmart is particularly brilliant. Millions of people shop at Walmart to get a value, and Lindows can capitalize on that by allowing people to get tons of software and a good OS on a $500 dollar PC with the monitor included. Most people already have printers, so it isn't necessary to include the cost of a printer.
Fourthly, by implying this relationship with AOL. Yes, its sneaky, but the only way a company can beat MS and Apple is to play by their game. It doesn't matter that they use sly tactics; what matters is that they're our natural allies.
Fifthly, by basing their distribution around Debian GNU/Linux. Couldn't have picked a more solid distro to base it off of. Also, being true to the GNU ideal will please the faithful.
Sixthly, for, while obeying the GPL, not offering the source code for download over the web free of charge, nor offering their binaries for download free of charge. The GNU GPL does not require that you give away the source for free, it only requires that you mail people the source if requested at no more than what it costs you to mail it to them. GNU GPL also doesn't require that you offer binaries for download over the web. Lindows is taking advantage of that, and employing a real business model. As dot.bomb taught us, its not a viable business model to plan your business around giving something away for free but hoping people will pay for it anyways.
Yes, Lindows is a serious business. Yes, they're aggressive. Yes, they're SOB's. But because their software is based off of the GPL'ed Debian, they're our SOB's. Lindows is a GNU/Linux distribution that will appeal to the masses by offering easy setup and configuration at a very cheap price. PC's sold with Lindows are definately much cheaper than the equivalent PC's sold with Windows. I see it gaining ground. I'd even suggest investing in Lindows as a stockholder.
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