Slashdot Mirror
How HP Could Turn a Novelty Into a Revolution
RobotsDinner writes "HP's TouchSmart desktop is cool, but a blogger suggests it could be the beginning of a revolution if HP were to finally make the move of ditching Windows and building a Linux distro around the TouchSmart UI. 'Hello, HP. The UI of your latest TouchSmart computer says something about you. You may not have recognized your own weaving-in of meaning, but it comes across quite clearly if one reads just right: You want out. You want to escape the world of Windows to which Microsoft has sequestered you for the better part of two decades. Ah, but you can. No longer does Bill Gates stand guard outside your cell ... It's time to ditch Windows and build a Linux distro around the TouchSmart UI ... Your captivity of innovation under Microsoft is over. You're free. Free to invent, as you might put it.'"
Bloody amazing spin considering the presence on touchscreen/multitouch on the MS roadmap. Where is even the slightest hint that this news should be tagged anything but "hp multitouch windows"?
I would've read it as "HP Makes Multitouch Crap to Convert Some Apple Fans and get Ready for Windows 7". I read it cynically as another facade program, like the HTC TouchFlo, to try and ride some free sales by including "iPhone Touch" in a product.
Still, TFA makes me laugh. Could this be the year of the Linucks Multitouching Desktop Running Duke Nukem Forever?
3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
Yeah, that would be great, in terms of technical coolness, in terms of customer satisfaction, in terms of business sense altogether. But I strongly believe that they won't do it. They'll stick with Losedoze Shitsta, and when the next version, Losedoze Excalibur, which will be 10 times bigger, 50,000 times slower, with one tenth the features, twice the price, and infinite more times the annoyances and bugs, they'll go with that, too. And so it will be for the version after Excalibur, dubbed Losedoze Titanic. And the one after that, Losedoze Supernova, Business Professional Workstation Edition, which will be one of nearly a thousand different editions, including Home Basic Desktop Edition, Home Professional Laptop Edition, School Student Desktop Edition, School Teacher Workstation Edition, Construction Site Professional Desktop Edition, Legal Professional Weekend Hot Rod Racer Novice Edition, and many others. Which one is right for you? Entire encyclopedias will be committed to answering that question. And that great company that was started by two dudes in a garage will continue delivering that garbage on otherwise perfectly good equipment. Because PHBs never learn.
McCain/Palin '08. Now THAT's hope and change!
If HP were serious about trying to revolutionize an industry, chances are, they'd have to partner with Apple to use their patents.
Patents on what? Apple hasn't invented anything substantial. Multitouch and all that comes from others. Even the EEE PC is shipping with Macbook-like multitouch.
HP doesn't need Apple's patents, they need to copy Apple's style and marketing pizazz. Fortunately, those are not patentable. Unfortunately, HP doesn't have the corporate culture to pull it off.
You're an idiot. .NET is not a single-platform environment
WPF sucks ass, and is a bitch to work with due to the very same windows APIs you're lording.
Tablet API is mostly .NET so is not bound to any particular software stack.
The best thing these guys can do is develop and promote an open API that is accessible from as many platforms as possible.
This thing was made for Plasma.