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Microsoft "Courier" Pictures
tekgoblin writes to let us know that Gizmodo has some early shots of the new prototype "Courier" booklet (foldable tablet) on the way from Microsoft. "Courier is a real device, and we've heard that it's in the 'late prototype' stage of development. It's not a tablet, it's a booklet. 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."
The article linked in the summary goes to wrong link (the same we discussed about in September)
Correct article with info. Picture gallery is here.
I must admit it does look awesome though. It's just perfect for use on sofa, as booklet is held like, well, a book. Laptop nor tablet aren't as nice and comfortable. There's no way I'll be buying the locked down tablet-like iPad when this is coming up.
It's all just so much "me too" vapourware from Microsoft
When automobiles were just invented, they had some designs that put a fake horse's head on the front of the car. This was supposed to calm down real horses and people that were on the road. I see this notebook? booklet? whatever? is designed to resemble a real book, but it doesn't have the advantages of a real book. It's gonna flop.
What if I want a Comic Sans?
MS's ability to name things has always be bad.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.
It's a bad sign that the Palm Pre comparisons have already started. If this thing winds up being to the iPad what the Pre is to the iPhone, it's already dead. It will have great promise and hope that will be dashed as soon as you try to use the thing. Sort of like a Democratic majority in Congress....
Wow so Microsoft invented a device for sorting digital shoes? Cool! Hip!
but does it run Linux?
It's definitely not a "me too" device. At least I've not seen anything else in this form factor.
What's it going to cost?
If it weighs in at $1000, I'll pass. $299 and I'll buy three of them. Okay, maybe not, but I'll really want to.
Subject says it all.
Wait for Courier New.
Watching the demo, I just can't understand why Microsoft seems so obsessed with the idea that everybody's going to want to interact with a computer using a pen.
Think about it. Let's say you're collaborating on a project with somebody, and he's done a lot of brainstorming about it. He comes to a meeting with a stack of notebooks where he's written down all his ideas. What's the first thing he says? "Sorry about my handwriting."
Even I apologize for my handwriting, and I have the handwriting of a comic-book letterer -- when I want to. The thing is, writing neatly takes a lot of time. It's much faster to use upper and lower case than block capitals, for starters, and it's faster to use cursive than printing. And even faster than that to just scrawl it out any way you can.
But you know what's even faster than that? Typing on a computer keyboard.
Microsoft first got on this kick with OneNote, its note-taking application, which it seemed to want to market as the killer app for tablet PCs. And by that I mean the first generation of tablet PCs. You know the ones. You didn't buy one. For some reason, Microsoft was pushing really hard for this idea that everybody would be walking around with tablet PCs, scribbling notes into OneNote with pens.
Now, I use OneNote every day. But while I have a nice-sized Wacom tablet sitting right here on my desk, which comes with a very nice, contoured stylus that fits very nicely in my hand, never once have I been inspired to plug the thing in to scrawl off some notes in OneNote. Not when there's a keyboard sitting right in front of me. Not when I know that if I simply type in my thoughts, OneNote won't have to try to OCR my scrawls in order to make the text searchable. Not when I know that storing a bitmap to save a six-word thought is a waste of space.
So in this Courier demo we not only have someone scribbling notes on a notepad -- which conveniently resembles an onscreen Moleskine notebook, because everybody knows people like their computers to model real-life things that are less efficient than computers, even when the computer doesn't much resemble that real-life thing -- but at one point the person draws a box around those notes, taps on it and the box turns into ... a highlighted yellow version of that wobbly, hand-drawn box.
That might be all well and good if I was a bright-eyed fresh college grad like the eager woman in the demo, and my life was accompanied by a wistful accoustic indie-rock soundtrack. But in real life, if I was being jostled back and forth on the noisy subway on my way home and I drew that box and it popped up on my screen looking all fucked-up like I just drew it, the first thing that would cross my mind would be, "God dammit, why is this computer so stupid that it can't tell I was trying to draw a box just now? Why won't it just make a rectangle? Drawing boxes was so much fucking easier when all I had to do is click my mouse button, hold it and drag."
This UI goes beyond a solution looking for a problem. It's a way of actively making it harder for me to get work done with a computer.
It reminds me of all the VRML hype from years back. People were predicting that in the future, we wouldn't type URLs into a Web browser. We'd fire up our Avatars and fly to places on the Web in 3-D graphics. We would walk through virtual libraries, pulling electronic books off 3-D shelves. We'd ride dragons to meeting rooms where we'd chat with other avatars in real time. And all I could think was, "WTF? So we've just invented the Internet, this miraculous thing that puts the world of information right at your fingertips, no matter where you are, so that all you have to do is type a couple things and the information instantly appears on your screen... and you want to impose a 3-D spatial paradigm on it? Instead of calling up information out of thin air, you want to have to hike down the virtual block to get it? You call that progress?"
Same thing with this tablet idea. People are too stu
Breakfast served all day!
iPad:iPod is Courier:NintendoDS
Inductive charging is way cool, but the rest of it sounds like just a larger version of the Nintendo DS! Not real innovative, if you know what I mean. Can't somebody simply make a tablet PC with USB ports, so I can plug in external memory, keyboard, mouse, etc.?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I think this device looks very cool, and it solves the iPad/iPod Touch conundrum. The iPad has a nice screen for reading, but you actually read the ipod touch because it fits in your pocket. If I could have the screen of an iPad and put it in my pocket you've got a killer app there.
And before your criticize the "put in your pocket" thing, I get that as the killer feature the ipod touch has from two moms who both use their ipods constantly. The ipad is not so convenient for taking a load of laundry out to the laundry room and checking facebook status updates.
Nintendo had.
When Microsoft says "late prototype" I read it as "we've got nothing, really, but if we say we're about to release something, a non-zero percentage of the market will sit on their thumbs until we do, instead of buying actual products that are actually available from other sources, because by golly, we're Microsoft."
(Yes, I know, it actually works. And no, I don't think that's a very nice tactic.)
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
The only content you added beyond that provided by Engadget and Gizmodo was your ads.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
You may be right, and for good reason - for all those tantalizing features would be paired with equal evils.
- The free phone would only work through MSN.
- The cancers cured would be unpopular, and only those of the target demographic.
- 9.5 years of battery life - when used according to a reverse-engineered use case, derived from massaged statistics. Likely lots of standby and minimal 'push-only' feature use, again through MSN.
Bleh.
Productized technology makes me grimace. I don't want orange juice at an inflated price - I want wholesale-priced oranges so I can do what I damned well please.
While I agree with you, not everybody can type 50 WPM. Microsoft doesn't make products for you and me, they make products for stupid people -- no, really, I think that's their target audience. Why use a stylus? People said the same thing about the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointing) interface, i.e. "Why use a GUI when command line is faster and offers more options". The answer is obvious: because clicking Start, then Shutdown is much easier to remember (and harder to screw up) than typing "shutdown -h -t now".
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Well if it includes handwriting recognition I don't think it will be of much concern. I've sampled Microsofts handwriting recognition on their tablet devices that are out now. I am very impressed with its capability. My handwriting is readable, but in no way pretty. It picks it up. I saw someone else write with it. He has a handwriting style that is a weird mixture of standard AND cursive writing and it still picked it up.
If this (potential) future product can do what current products can, handwriting neatness will be of no concern.
because I could walk around holding the courier with one hand and writing stuff/accessing it with another even if I'm wearing gloves?
virtual keyboards like the iphone/ipad are not very good for using them on the go in my opinion, and a pen-based interface can work a lot better.
-- the cake is a lie
The video is entirely CGI (fake) and reveals nothing more than what M$ already revealed months ago. Yet it still presents only about 25% of what's needed for a complete, viable UI.
Even the narrator sounds computer generated, due to her lisp. If you really want to communicate, don't make people strain to undertstand through a lisp.
maxume +1
If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
It looks like an nifty device, I will grant that. Nonetheless, I grow wary of buying anything from Microsoft these days. It seems like that company has become absolute artists at nickel and diming their customers. For instance, on the first Xbox, you could save guest profiles and, as long as one housemate had an Xbox Live membership, you could host those guests in games. Out comes the 360 and now you can no longer save guest profiles. You have to reset yours settings every damn login if you piggyback on your roomate's account. Then there are their operating systems. Granted, Windows 7 seems to have turned out alright. But they rushed Vista so bad they FUBARed the whole stupid thing and had to rerelease (and charge money for) an entire new OS to fix their screw ups. Again, they profit at the expense of their consumers. Their PC games (Games for Windows or whatever that PR tag is on PC game boxes now) have increasingly pain in the ass DRM. I don't even bother to buy the stupid things anymore because it is easier just to get a hack copy from the internet complete with DRM circumvention kits.
As much as I love to blame all of my tech problems on Gates' legacy, I will admit that Microsoft turns out some top quality products from time to time. Their ergonomic keyboards are fantastic. This tablet looks impressive. I just find it hard to give my money to a company that is so skilled at financially raping their consumer base. Sorry MS, good products or not, you've burned my trust one too many times.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
ohnoitsroland
I don't think you could. Try it out now. Walking and writing on a paper pad at the same time is going to result in a slow walk and messy writing. An app that has been well designed for the iPad (and other keyboard interfaces) would work with the idea that there is no pen and make it as easy as possible for the user to use them.
As a far-out example, using FCP is a lot easier once you memorise the (thousand or so...) keyboard shortcuts whereas an equivalent app on the iPad wouldn't have you using a virtual keyboard but would make use of the touch and multi-touch features to the best advantage of the user. These are completely different devices to a PC on a desk and so require a developer to, well, Think Different.
When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
Wow, where to begin... This looks good:
It reminds me of all the VRML hype from years back. People were predicting that in the future, we wouldn't type URLs into a Web browser. We'd fire up our Avatars and fly to places on the Web in 3-D graphics. We would walk through virtual libraries, pulling electronic books off 3-D shelves. We'd ride dragons to meeting rooms where we'd chat with other avatars in real time. And all I could think was, "WTF? So we've just invented the Internet, this miraculous thing that puts the world of information right at your fingertips, no matter where you are, so that all you have to do is type a couple things and the information instantly appears on your screen... and you want to impose a 3-D spatial paradigm on it? Instead of calling up information out of thin air, you want to have to hike down the virtual block to get it? You call that progress?"
I wonder if you're familiar with Second Life?
And yes, for many, it is considered progress. Or at least it was. I'm not sure how many big corps are still onboard, but there were buzzings of private servers for employee training and the like. Anyway it turns out that while it hasn't applied to the web as a whole, people really did cotton to that idea. Lots of people. Even some important ones.
Same thing with this tablet idea. People are too stupid to use computers, apparently, so you want to use all the power of a computer to enable them to do things like they would if all they had was a stack of paper and a Bic -- because that's what they're supposedly comfortable with.
Taking your finger and pointing it is about as basic as it gets. Using a pen is just an extension of that. Paper made it more portable than cave walls. People aren't all that keen on using keyboards everywhere they go because they're simply not natural. How many of those full-size, fold-able keyboards sold as accessories to cell phones really see any daily use?
I think the device looks like an innovative approach to 'infinite paper', which is basically what the videos bill it out to be. It looks like a huge step beyond what tablets presently mean, and seems to offer it in a better form factor.
Meanwhile your desktop will be right where you last left it, with the keyboard still attached.
I guess I'm not quite sure what you're rambling about, but I'm pretty certain the words you are searching for involve 'kids' and 'off' and 'lawn'.
Like the iPad, it seems to me to be a device in search of a market that doesn't exist. I just don't see the need/demand for something like a laptop, but not a laptop.
I doubt you could fit a keyboard inside that thing, I mean... it's so tiny!
You see, what you whine about is old technology, what you saw, was a presentation made by the marketing crew using a flash animation.
OCR when implemented correctly with good algorithms and combined with a fast cpu can be very efficient, not as fast as writing on a keyboard, but that's a sacrifice you have to make for downsizing. A pen is perfect for touching delicate things and mediating your gestures into fine motor control, hence the longevity of the invention.
What you are saying is; don't try to make one, I didn't like the last one I tried! We all know the best input method is telepathically.
Why do you think that the courier is supposed to be used whilst sitting at your desk? I don't know about you, but I frequently grab a notepad, and go to a location that is not my desk to sketch out ideas/concepts/etc. I don't want to be using a keyboard for that, I want exactly the interface that the courier provides: a pen and surface to write on. (Currently I have an iRex, but the extra features of the courier will have me buying one in a heartbeat) Not every computing device must replace your desktop system, there are a myriad of situations where other interfaces are much more appropriate, and a myriad more where it can supplement other devices.
If Windows Mobile runs on Windows CE ... Windows Mobile IS Windows CE.
I really find amusement at how stupid people can become when they are fans of X product/company.
Child, please...
An OEM (or MS) can take CE, strip it of everything they don't need (for example for their particular device they might not even need a filesystem and related modules), add their own stuff to it, and the result would be something you'd never recognize as Windows CE. There are countless gadgets and gizmos out there running CE that you don't know about (you probably even own a few w/o knowing it).
Windows Mobile (all versions) are built over Windows CE. The Zune HD is built over Windows CE. Is there any fucking similarity between Windows Mobile 6.5 and the Zune HD? No -- because just having the same kernel means nothing. Or if I were to follow your logic, I would come to the conclusion that the Zune HD IS Windows CE.. which is ridiculous..
... without the proper software.. yet. http://blog.laptopmag.com/msis-dual-screen-tablet-video-hands-on-much-more-than-an-ereader
Can't wait to see this on the market... Might postpone all purchases in wait for it...
Breaking a screen into two smaller ones and sticking a giant hinge/bezel in the middle isn't an advantage.
Think about watching video on this. You have half the screen and turned sideways.
Even reading a regular text ebook. Two screens aren't an advantage, they are a hindrance.
Now it might be good for a few things where you can flick it between the two small screens, BUT you could easily do the same thing on one bigger screen by creating a software split between the halves.
Now MS may have some good SW ideas, I'll wait until they exist outside of a cartoon to comment on those, but I think they would be better delivered on a one screen device.
I can re-purpose my Hammer Pants for something!
I would say "prototype" usually means some working hard- and software, a real device. Not in mass production or finally nailed down, but something that really exists and can be touched and basically works.
So, are there pictures of that device? I have seen nothing than renderings and UI mockups yet and people talking of a "prototype" when there is just a "concept" drive me crazy.
And I also don't get it when people talk about "multi-touch" and seem to mean "you can touch and swipe and gesture everywhere and everywhere every touch and swipe and gesture does something different. Isn't it great?". No! It isn't!
Wow, with the Windows-experience wizard and the designers of Xbox and Zune on board, what could possibly go wrong?
This story was posted over an hour ago, and no one has made a joke yet about it being just as fast as a Courier POTS modem from US Robotics.... Man, I'm losing my faith in geek-kind.
Also, you kids get off my lawn!
sigfault (core dumped)
iPhone-esque? I think people may be seeing things where there really is nothing. Hundreds of applications have had home buttons. Plenty of them long before apple too i'm sure. Fairly stupid to mention iphone/apple here.
And if I want to draw a picture? How do I accomplish that with my keyboard?
How about if I want to "do the math" on an equation where I need to go step by step? What then?
I understand what you're saying but the keyboard isn't the end all device for input. It's not even close to covering many things that people would like to do with their computers.
You speak like someone who has heard of 2nd Life but hasn't used it much. The original poster's point is valid: Try to find some information regarding IBM on the Web - type www.ibm.com Now do the same with SL - go, i'll wait until you come back.
OK?
The truth about 2nd life as information medium is encapsulated in your comment "Or at least it was"
Just because someone can see a gimmick is a gimmick doesn't mean that they are involved in protecting their patch of turf.
No handwriting recognition system is going to have the speed or accuracy of a keyboard; at least not in the near future. By the time you've got the spare CPU cycles and context-sensitive parsing to do 100% accurate handwriting recognition, you'll be better off using voice recognition, which not only supports the people that can't type, but also functional illiterates... like your average facebook member.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Sounds like what you want is a laptop. You should buy one of those instead.
There certainly is more innovation in the concept than in the iPad -- by a fairly large margin. That doesn't necessarily mean it would be more useful or useable -- but it's enough that iIm very interested to hear more about it. The leaked video from a few months ago was really quite interesting, the only thing we need now is actual details on the operating system, spec, etc. As a concept it's great, but as a reality it might fall short.
I really don't like Microsoft, but...
I'd love to see MS kick Apple's ass this time around just to wipe that smug look off Jobs' face - the guy is too cocky.
AC
This UI goes beyond a solution looking for a problem. It's a way of actively making it harder for me to get work done with a computer.
Yes. This will make most tasks people perform primarily on a desktop/laptop computer more difficult and/or less efficient. However, for those millions of us that find ourselves frequently away from our laptops/desktops, the Courier would seem to provide a great deal of functionality as a simple web browser, notepad, personal calendar, and organizer - but with infinite paper. Basement dwellers need not apply - you'll always have your keyboard within arms reach.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
Man.. what a long and pointless rant.
Nobody says handwriting is better/faster. The articles / videos about Courier aren't portraying it to be the next evolution in input devices. It's just a different form factor, and a purpose-built device, and for that purpose the pen works better than a keyboard.
Relax a bit...
I get your point, and it's a good one, I do think you are oversimplifying the input capacity. This is about marketing, so they would show the most "innovative" features that would provide the Wow! factor. I'm hoping they would actually include the capacity for an onscreen keyboard and they just aren't showing it.
Even still, I can think of a lot of situations where this would be a good tool. Keyboards aren't always easy for drawing pictures...or things like that, so there is a place for that type of input. Also, there are times when standing, or sitting in a theater would make balancing the device, so I can type with two hands would be somewhat cumbersome.
I wouldn't put it passed MS to mess this up, but it isn't a done deal. The fact is, there is a lot of room in modern computing for all different types of input methods.
An important change for education.
Kind of like the way that is Android (the mobile OS) runs on Linux (the kernel), that means that Android IS Linux? I suppose in one sense that's true (the kernel is a core part of an OS), but it's still a stupid claim. We don't refer to operating systems by their kernels, as a general rule. I'm typing this from software running on NT 6.1, but if you asked me what OS I use I'd say Windows 7. One of my other computers use Linux 2.6.something, but if you ask me what OS it runs I'd say OpenSuse 11.2. Some of my friends would answer Ubuntu, or even Gutsy Gibbon or similar. If I asked a Mac-using friend what his computer ran, he wouldn't tell me it was XNU, or even Darwin, he'd say Snow Leopard, or possibly just OS X, or OS X 10.6.
An OS is a lot more than just a kernel, and even then, no version of "Windows Mobile" runs on the version of "Windows CE" under discussion. With the possible exception of the Zune HD, there aren't any released devices in the world that run on this kernel, and there certainly aren't any that run on this particular operating system.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
I certainly see a benefit to being able to do things with a pen, mostly for taking notes in class etc.
Typing your notes on a word processor just doesn't give you the same amount of freedom to write in formulas, circle important concepts, doodle, etc.
i can't believe no one brought up what this thing looks like.
really, go back roughly 25 years.
think. the 80's aren't that far back. ...no one remembers?
for those who can't remember or, most probably, weren't born in the 80s, this thing is a copy of apple's knowledge navigator.
(link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Navigator)
i know apple never brought it to market (it was just some concept thingie that only existed in a video and in sculley's book), but nonetheless... feels like microsoft copied apple again.
> What if I want a Comic Sans?
You'll get attacked by typographers and damned to Helvetica.
How am I supposed to hold this thing and do all the stuff in the videos without the spine hinge snapping after a month of use?
Pretty nifty otherwise.
It seems much better than the ipad but i don't think that matters. Everyone knows the new zune (and the old zune for that matter) is much better than the ipods but they don't sell well.
MS has a real image problem that it can probably never fix. MS is seen as the company that makes boring operating systems for boring computers (the lols that the "windows 7 party" promotion caused is proof of that).
These type of imbedded devices are MSs Achilles' heel. they are largely independant and immune to MSs tradtional vendor lock-in.
But in real life, if I was being jostled back and forth on the noisy subway on my way home and I drew that box and it popped up on my screen looking all fucked-up like I just drew it, the first thing that would cross my mind would be, "God dammit, why is this computer so stupid that it can't tell I was trying to draw a box just now? Why won't it just make a rectangle? Drawing boxes was so much fucking easier when all I had to do is click my mouse button, hold it and drag."
This UI goes beyond a solution looking for a problem. It's a way of actively making it harder for me to get work done with a computer.
I think you're scraping a much bigger problem here that Microsoft totally missed while rushing on creating a competitor to the iPad, even though Apple specifically explained it in their promotional video: The whole user interface isn't intuitive! You actually have to learn where to tap to do what, etc. For example, I would never have expected that dragging a contact to a page shares that page with this person.
The result of this is that the user actually has to get to know the UI. This could be done by a manual (as if anybody ever reads a manual), a tutorial application (bad first experience with the device), or some kind of course like they have for using MS Word (most folks don't put up with this, unless they absolutely need this for their job). This completely removes the whole non-techy population from the target user group.
You just do from the Apple spot isn't an empty marketing line, it's the concept behind good user interaction design: You don't have to learn the user interface, because the user interface behaves like a regular person would expect it to, intuitively. For example, dragging an object from one place to another should put that object there. If you take a photo of your mother and place it on your notepad, you expect the photo to be there, not your mother to know everything that's written in the notepad.
And that's only scraping the surface of that video. The cut-operation is another problem, as is switching applications.
As a contrast, the only thing I ever had to explain to folks trying out my iPhone is the function of the home button ("press the button to get out of an app"), that's it. As soon as they know that, they have full control over the device.
Same thing with this tablet idea. People are too stupid to use computers, apparently, so you want to use all the power of a computer to enable them to do things like they would if all they had was a stack of paper and a Bic -- because that's what they're supposedly comfortable with
Well, the idea behind those real-life UIs is that people have an easier time getting started using the application, if it looks like the thing it's supposed to replace. The important part here is that the UI must not be limited by that metaphor, otherwise you could just use the original thing instead. However, the application should expand on that concept, meaning that everything should work as in the original thing, plus some more behaviors.
And actually, people really do like those interfaces. I wrote one of them, and it's pretty well-received.
If this (potential) future product can do what current products can, handwriting neatness will be of no concern.
My handwriting is so bad that frequently I can't read it myself afterwards. You guess the software can do that for me then?
Handwriting so bad you can't even read your own scratch afterwards?that's YOUR problem. It might be easier to fix yourself rather than find a technology that suits the needs of every single person in the world equally.
I would have assumed that dragging a contact into my journal would embed the contact in my journal. Maybe dragging the journal to the contact could share it with the contact.
If you look, there is no "there" there. As in, nothing physical is being shown at any time. These are not prototypes - they are concepts! They aren't even as real at this stage as the fantasy cars you see at car shows.
So let's see what comes out and WHEN it comes out. Remember that not even Windows Mobile 7 Edition comes out until the end of the year, and it's a lot less ambitious!
Some of the ideas are really interesting, but how much will we see in real life and how practical will it be to use.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yep, I would have expected the same. I guess this kind of issues will be spread all over the interface, making the device a huge learning experience.
"LOLz Your comparing a concept to a shipping product"
Are you referring to the iPad that Apple just delayed a month?
because I could walk around holding the courier with one hand and writing stuff/accessing it with another
There is a design that works great for that.
It's called a clipboard. And it's only one page, not two. Can you imagine how hard that would really be to work, flopping all around as you attempt to hold it in one hand?
even if I'm wearing gloves?
Even when your wearing this?
Or if you have gloves you really love already, why not use one of these?
Of course it would be a shame to fall back to a stylus because then five potential contact points become one ham-fisted stick.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
For a portable item, having two screens that can be folded during transportation is definitely an advantage.
Just look at the DS vs. the PSP... which one is more rugged?
I'd rather have two 7" screens that fold closed on top of each other rather than a single 9.5" screen with the same viewing area on a portable tablet/ebook like device.
This is a special-purpose device. It's competing with paper notebooks and binders, or at best, with a laptop + pen input for specific applications.
This isn't for watching movies, playing games, or *really* browsing the web. It's for taking notes, gathering reference materials, and collaborating.
The question isn't whether it can be a better tablet than the iPad and other coming products, but whether Microsoft can convince people in the design business that this will be quicker/more convenient enough for them than their current way of doing things to justify investing in the device.
For the typical consumer, this will be too expensive and not convergent enough to be worth buying, the question is whether it is useful and divergent enough for the target market.
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Did we just sink to the level of Apple antipathy/analysis where someone actually states that a Microsoft vaporware project is way ahead of an Apple product that's going to hit the streets in three weeks?
Tweet, tweet.
It's not really an inability, it's a policy that marketing often enforces that customers should be able to tell what the product does by the name. Most of the products start with something closer to what their code names are and the product group is told by marketing or user assistance to change it. The policy creates both lame names and unnecessarily long names as they are also often required to including the name of parent product or feature.
"Just look at the DS vs. the PSP... which one is more rugged? "
Have any stats? I know the DS has a lot more hinge problems than the PSP and from googling oddly enough I seem to also see a lot more DS broken screens as well.
Why mimic a book? The book was designed around paper. The ipad and it's ilk are not based on paper. IMHO there is no benefit in two screens if you really think about it. It seems to me they are trying to shoehorn a book into a different medium instead of of taking a fresh look at how to present information and ideas. Bad idea, makes the device more expensive with no added benefit. As far as pen input goes. I can type twice as fast as I can write and would bet most of the folks on slashdot can relate. We've used pen and paper for a very long time and there has been no viable alternative. This "thing" is just a prototype and it's certainly not a step forward.
Is there a particular reason to believe that they WILL lock it down?
Two things.
One, Zune apps. You can't even do 'em at all right now. So they already sell really locked down consumer gear.
But two, the 360 thing you mentioned. Consider the tight Live intrgation Windows 7 Mobile Edition is promising. It seems to be branching more from the 360 side of things than anywhere.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Since Windows XP you have been able to shutdown windows using shutdown -s from the command line.
Perhaps it isn't smart to insult others for your lack of knowledge?
One thing that Courier nails is the concept of using both fingers and pen. Go ahead, try it. There are two basic pen positions: a "writing" position that uses all five fingers, and a "resting" position where the pen is rotated 90 degrees, and held in place by a single finger, leaving the other fingers free. The writing position is vertical, resting on the edge of the hand. The resting position is horizontal, palm down.
The Courier UI mockup uses both of these hand configurations and orientations. Flat, horizontal motions such as flipping a page or image dragging are done in the resting position. Vertical motions such as drawing and writing are done in writing position. Switching between the two is very fast and natural-feeling.
Having a pen dispenses with the need for a QUERTY keyboard, but block-printing is not the solution either. For one thing, it's too slow: the average printing speed is about 15wpm. A better solution might be a stylus-based keyboard. Several years ago, IBM invented a shorthand named Shark (commercialized as ShapeWriter, I believe) that was extremely effective. After just a few minutes of practice with it, I was able to achieve 40wpm.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
A real device is a physical entity. CGI movies are not real devices.
Fiat Homos et Pereat Theos
As a college student, I can attest that being able to take and save notes electronically would be *very* nice.
Try making, say, a free-body diagram as quickly with your keyboard and mouse as with a stylus and touchscreen (or, more importantly, as quickly as the lecturer).
That's why it is GNU/Linux and not Linux you insensitive clod.
GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
as a foreman I really need one of these in a padded, metal case.
The only content you added beyond that provided by Engadget and Gizmodo was your ads.
Hey now, he worked hard for those ads!
./Rockwolf
February 9th, 2009 8:55pm: Slashdot becomes self-aware.
Considering it's not finished, you can hope it'll be done this way instead of the completely backwards way shown in the video.
This could actually be somewhat useful.
I just can't understand why Microsoft seems so obsessed with the idea that everybody's going to want to interact with a computer using a pen.
Perhaps because like me, I find very hard to draw diagrams, and equations with my fingers or typing "latex-like" when in class or a meeting?
To your question then answer yourself what is the obsession of having blackboards in conference rooms if they have projectors? To me, it's easy interaction.
Your response is incongruous (and in Courier, so I guess as far as the font's concerned, you're on topic). GP was stating "Microsoft chose to make things easier for mere mortals to do", your response is "yeah but they left the difficult way in as well, so you're stupid" -- your response is not a refutation, it's an orthogonal observation, turned into an insult at the end. Note that I'm not insulting you; I think insulting someone is the wrong way to do it, even if what I have to say is accurate and on target and a valid refutation. It's better to let people appear stupid on their own.
Besides, your refutation is not technically accurate, either: that command worked in Windows 2000. (Yes, you could argue that "since Windows XP" is a valid subset of "since Windows 2000" and that you intentionally meant to not cover all cases, and in that case, I'd say congratulations at having won this debate.)
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
When you are talking about a handwriting recognizing device, that becomes also the device's problem. To what extent should a user have to adapt to the tool and not the other way around?
If a Courier customer finds that the handwriting does not work for them, is that grounds for returning the device as defect? Why not, if the handwriting tech is considered a major device function?
You are right that a keyboard is better than handwriting, but other than edge cases, voice recognition is not better than handwriting. Aside from being less reliable (even if it hears what you say, it can still get into trouble over the which witch problem), it is also a problem in any environment where you are not alone and it's not noticeably faster than handwriting. At least no implementaion I've ever seen is. But the thing is, although a keyboard is what I use when I'm sitting at a desk and writing and need to input a lot of text, there are a lot of situations where I'm not at a desk and thus a keyboard becomes a bloody nuisance and situations where I just want to make some jottings. There are even a number of situations where I actually want to draw my notes - circles and lines, etc. Personally, I think this could be really useful.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
a) Handwriting recognition software. It exists.
b) Just because you don't do anything related to science, mathematics, or engineering, doesn't mean there won't be benefit for someone else out there
c) Just because you chose the wrong tool for the job doesn't mean the tool doesn't work. You're basically saying "how come i can't get draw a square with this drawing compass?"
The problem is of course that it is all called Windows. Which for 99,9% of even the slashdot community means desktop, windowing system, mouse clicks, etc. You know, Windows.
Win CE doesn't even need a graphical output. Let alone a windowing system. Calling it Windows is confusing at best, and of course just marketing: the name is familiar so it must be good for what-ever you want to use it for.
Yeah because when I'm about to start my plan for world domination I'm going to totally target my flagship product for the 5% of population that have used a computer before.. I mean, why would I want to broad the market and make the product accessible? Why would I want that millions of OEM PCs sold anyway? Why would I want to create a massive echosystem to deploy my holy grail office? Yeah! I'd say MS TOTALLY screwed themselves with the GUI.....
Your post is the lame answer for the question.. Is this the year for linux on the desktop?
PROTIP ***Nobody want to use a product that it's promoted by self righteous douchebags that thinks they are the only ones with a working brain***, saving Apple, but those are hip douchebags.
I'd rather click two buttons a go out to fuck my wife to try to debug which lib screwed $random_app
Have they decided for the last time what the Courier name should be used for?
http://images.appleinsider.com/courier.001.png
They are playing catch-up to Apple so hard it is almost painful to see.