Slashdot Mirror
Early Details On Courier, Microsoft's Take On a Tablet
rbanffy points out an article on Gizmodo about Courier, a tablet (or more accurately, a booklet) in development at Microsoft. "The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They're connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre." A concept video shows off the ability to use the two different screens for separate purposes, like browsing the web or a photo album on the left and using the right as a notepad or workspace.
The XO-2, most definitely: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO-2
Asus are also working on something with a similar form-factor, last I heard.
It's almost like companies noticed that the original XO laptop spawned the whole netbook craze, and decided they wanted to be in on OLPC's next big idea.
I've seen Surface in action and used it. It is very fast and responsive and actually everyone who used it was greatly impressed. Resolution was great...good enough to inspect x-rays and MRIs in detail. /.)
As far as the other projects you mention: not every R&D project becomes a product...that is the nature of R&D. I, for one, am glad to get a glimpse into what people are working on and thinking about. If MS didn't show these R&D efforts, you'd be the first one complaining how secretive they are.
You are clearly too biased against MS (yeah, I know, welcome to