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Microsoft Origami Unfolds
College Student writes "Microsoft has officially unveiled 'Origami', a paperback-book sized portable hybrid (laptop & PDA). From article: 'The new machines will connect wirelessly to the Internet and carry full-sized hard drives, but they are not intended to replace current PCs....The new PCs are expected to sell for between $599 to $999, but Microsoft said it is possible to sell one for $500 if the manufacturer selects components carefully.'" More details at the official Microsoft site, and via Channel 9 a look at the system with the UMPC general manager.
I feel there's a void of uselessness in sizes between the PDA and the laptop. If I can't put it in my pants pocket, then I have to carry/backpack it, so it might as well be a laptop with a real keyboard.
There's at least one MAJOR difference Origami is running some Windows version and Nokia 770 is running (Debian based) Maemo! Open source.
It seems that Microsoft feel the Tablet PC concept didn't fail badly enough the last time they tried it, so in true Microsoft fashion they've reworked it, rebranded it and relaunched it as a NEW! EXCITING! same old thing. Except now they look like Sega GameGears and have a cheap plastic stand that fold out. Woo.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/08/origami_um pc_clunker/
another MS hardware failure, to be sure
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
http://www.nu.nl/news.jsp?n=689884&c=134
Apparently, it has a rotatable back, revealing a small size keyboard. This would make it interesting for me. And I'm also interested in the hardware issues, might be a nice thing to run linux on, I'd buy it instead of a laptop. What also would be nice is a USB port to connect a real keyboard to it.
molmod.com - computing tips from a molecular modeling
no particular identity
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origami (ôr'-gä'm) pronunciation
n., pl. -mis.
2. A decorative object made by folding paper.
a decorative object...ohhh..i get it now..
-No keyboard at a time with mobile computing is moving to keyboards: check
-It's basically a big PDA at a time when the PDA market is on it's death bead: check
-It's not a phone at a time when the smartphone market is growing rapidly: check
Either Microsoft knows something nobody else does, they're just playing a niche for incrimental revenue, or, well, I don't know. I don't get it.
TW
Most likely, you will find that any product made by Apple is of excellent design right out of the box.
:D
You've obviously never used OS 8.
Don't monkey around. Get a Mac. It is the intelligent choice.
No, thanks. Don't like the things myself. Ever since the first iMac and Apple's abomination called iPod, I just have no use for their products. I can get the same (actually, better) level of functionality with a lot less money by going elsewhere.
But kudos on a well-written propa...err...post
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
--
This sig left intentionally blank
Unless you live in Sudan or somewhere else fun like that, for you the answer is "never."
This is something I just can't wrap my head around. The more they sell, the cheaper they are to make. There are thousands of rural/poor school districts in the U.S. that would LOVE to get their hands on semi-rugged, simple, cheap laptops and give one to each student. I guess because we don't live in Africa the fact that we don't have the money to provide technology to our students doesn't matter.
They could sell tens of millions of those in the U.S. and make the units even more affordable in places like Sudan (mark them up to $150 here if you want, then it only costs $50 to put on in the hands of an African student).
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
OK, I'm going engage in something that I usually detest: predictive punditry.
Here goes: This thing is going to flop.
Here are the reasons why:
(1) It fits into the space between laptops and phones, the same place PDAs are struggling in. They will have to to steal market share from a declining market segment.
(2) Portable => form factor is critical && the form factor == Newton && Newton == marketing flop.
(3) The lowest conceivable selling price is equal to the highest conceivable buying price.
(4) Challenge the iPod? With something this big? Are they nuts?
I am a well known non-believer in convergence as a user concept, but as a marketing concept it's a winner. We'll probably end up with converged devices and laptops pincering any product category in between to death.
What this means is that if there are markets for intermediate form factors such as PDAs and small tablets, they will have to be cheap and as non-converged as can be -- they'll have to be built around a "killer app" for a some market segment. That probably means shirt pocket organizers in the sub $50 range, hand held gaming in the sub $100 range. These may accrete certain PDA like functions as a kind of "freebie", the way even rudimentary non-converged phones have calendars and alarms, but they aren't going to be the deal closers for the buyers.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The new PCs are expected to sell for between $599 to $999, but Microsoft said it is possible to sell one for $500 if the manufacturer selects components carefully.'"
The Microsoft spokesman added. Yeah you could definitely get a $500 dollar price point if you installed linu..... I mean less ram....
The nokia 770 runs linux and is more practical. 3rd party bluetooth headset support is available and an officially supported VoIP phone is going to be out in the next couple of months. And if for nothing else, it's fun to hack ;) 350 dollars retail.
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
speaking of pictures..
m spx
;p
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/howtobuy.
anyone notice how horrid Microsoft seems to be with photoshop? The screen isn't even on the device! Or maybe that's a new feature... able to move the screen around off of the device.
Someone's gonna get in trouble over that
As an owner of a Windows Mobile PDA (Dell Axim x50v) I can say authoratatively that Windows Mobile software sucks in so many ways it's hard to count. The OS is buggy, slow, an so severly crippled in areas that desktop users take for granted that it is physically painful to use. The software selection for add-on programs is so diminuative that when I switched from PalmOS, I honestly thought that I had to be missing some secret community of developers. I couldn't believe that 1) there were no Windows versions of so many of the Palm apps that I had found essential, and 2) there was no active community of programmers and hobbiests trading code and writing scripts to do all the little things that hadn't been included in the OS.
The Windows Mobile world is dominated by a very few developers who write commercial software for profit. The wonderful selection of little free/share-ware apps that exist in the desktop and Palm world is totally non-existent in the WinMobile world. In addition, MS makes it exremely difficult for the hobbiest to "play around" with the devices and this keeps many who might be interested from even bothering.
Some examples:
There is one, and only one, program that can be used to completely backup your Windows Mobile device, and it is not included with the OS. This program must be bought, from a third party, and the WM 5.0 version took 4 months to be released after WM 5.0 was released.
To "Active Sync" your WM 5.0 device you MUST have Outlook or Outlook Express, not only installed on your windows desktop, but it MUST be the default email client.
There are only two usable alternatives to the internal contact/calender management programs, both commercial software, and almost no external script abilitiy to customize these apps beyond the limited choices offered by the developers.
I left Palm because the hardware offereings have fallen so far behind state-of-the-art it is pathetic. My Dell has built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, SD card slot, CF Card slot, and a true VGA screen. There is no comparable Palm offering, even the rediculously overpriced LifeDrive. I find myself using my Dell much less than I used to use my Palm, with the exception of GPS navigation, which the Palm couldn't do at all. I am using my laptop much more, but carrying that bulk around is tiresome, in more ways than one.
I will definately be keeping my eyes on these new devices. If I could get a $600-$800 device in a paperback size form factor, with a full OS, good battery life and a thumb keyboard, I would jump at the chance.
"Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet,
Impossible means not yet done." ~~ Julia Ecklar
That's the new BSOD feature. The screen physically slides off and melts into a pile of goo on the floor. The box comes with five BSOD replacement kits, with the BSODs timed to have the kits run out right after the warranty expires.
I was really excited by the possibility until I saw the three hour battery life. This cripples the entire project, in my opinion, because it dictates how you use it. Unless you can reliably use it whenever you feel like it during the day without having to monitor battery life continuously or worry about it pooping out on you it's effectively tied to outlets (car, office, etc). I know that's how I'd feel about it because even though I can get 3-4 hours out of my laptop on battery I rarely use it that way because I'm always worried that when I really need the batteries they won't be there.
Until they can get all-day battery life it's just not interesting to me. By "all day" I mean 8-hours with moderate use as a BARE minimum, and I'd really want something more like 12-16. It should be as portable battery-wise as cell phones were when they took off or portable players are when they took off. Otherwise it's just not genuinely portable.
-stormin
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