TORONTO, ONTARIO – Microsoft is banking on its new Tablet PC product to convert note pads and pens into nostalgic office supplies.
Unveiled yesterday in Toronto, Tablet technology enables users to write on-screen with a plastic-tipped pen using digital ink. The Bill Gates design, which he developed for a reported $400 million, has all the substance of current notebook PCs, including detachable keyboards and all Windows-based applications — with the bonus of Microsoft Journal and a superset of Windows XP Professional. Throw in handwriting recognition capabilities to search and index notes and the Tablet PC is being marketed as a revolutionary all-in-one organizer.
“The Tablet is the next phase of moving forward,” said Frank Clegg, Microsoft Canada president. He added: “But only with your permission.”
The public didn’t seem to mind the next phase at the Metro Convention Centre, as the press and industry insiders grabbed digital pens and tried the devices themselves. Vendors included Microsoft partners exhibiting their own Tablet versions, such as Fujitsu, Acer Canada, Motion Computing and Toshiba.
For instance, the Stylistic ST Series Tablet PC from Fujitsu features a Pentium III processor with 20 gigs of hard drive and 265 megabytes of SDRAM. Users have the option of carrying along a keyboard like a notebook computer or choosing the slab design. Monitors, 12 inches high, can rotate 360 degrees. A magnesium frame, and an optional protective casing, saves the Tablet from minor falls.
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Tablet PC is being marketed as a revolutionary all-in-one organizer. |
Pen-based notes are quick and painless, with a pressure-sensitive pen-tip to enact bold-text features. If a slip of the hand writes an “m” instead of an “n,” the erase function destroys the evidence.
Scott Ball, vice-president of Filbitron (a Fujitsu distributor) said email and Excel programs will one day integrate digital ink into everyday use.
“I’ve been using these for email for 10 years,” confessed Ball, adding Fujitsu has been manufacturing Tablets for 12 years, albeit in more clunky versions without Microsoft support.
With a price range of $2500 to $3000, the notebooks-cum-desktops are expected to outperform past failures. The Apple Newton and Go Corp. machines barely penetrated the market, and Microsoft’s own WinPad was a notorious flop, but Clegg maintained ardent optimism.
“This is going to be a kick-start to a change in the way people work,” he said. Target customers are “road warrior” workers — those always on the go like sales managers and travelling executives — and “corridor warriors,” who spend hours in the office but are away from their desks attending meetings. Microsoft asks: Why scribble on reams of paper when you could scribble on a screen?
Critics have enough answers to that question. Some say the battery life is too short, only lasting an average of four hours. Others critique that the technology is unnecessary, and impress no better than handheld computers sold by Palm and others.
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Toronto Convention Centre: Vendors included Microsoft partners exhibiting their own Tablet versions, such as Fujitsu, Acer Canada, Motion Computing and Toshiba. |
What is fascinating about the product is the handwriting recognition ability, a feature Microsoft product manager Elliot Katz called “a lot of computer science.” If a user scrawls any word, on any angle, in Microsoft Journal, the search function will find even the messiest handwriting (or at least offer examples to choose from). And if foreign text is added — such as surnames or slang — the word is stored in the application’s memory.
In addition, the handwriting feature supports German, French, Japanese and Korean. Katz said more languages are in development.
With his money and computing vision resting on the Tablets’ future, Gates espouses confidence in the pen-computing venture: “Within five years, I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America.,” he said at a recent trade show.
And if Gates is right, paper and pens may indeed lose a final battle to the PC.
