In computer news this week, 11/06/2002

Lead: Tablets were big with Moses, but how about in the pc marketplace?

The latest greatest thing since sliced bread in the pc industry

Microsoft endorses tablet pc's in this morning's paper, designed for ultra-lite computing - data retrieval and light data entry -and hails them as revolutionary devices that will be the most popular personal computers in the next 5 years.

I think it was the 5 years part of that endorsement that really made me wary about Microsoft's real thoughts here. 5 years is an eternity in the pc industry - almost 2 product life cycles. So if tablet pc's don't infiltrate the earth, Microsoft will have 5 years of excuses to rationalize why they didn't take off.

Personally I think Microsoft is most happy about the fact that there are over a dozen pc hardware vendors that have committed to manufacturing a tablet pc which uses Microsoft's new Windows XP for tablets operating system. In other words, Microsoft has an ulterior motive. Hard to believe, huh?

Just a couple days ago Microsoft gets a virtual pass and mild do-better slip on all it's past sins, and now they're jumping into another marketplace they might have had reservations about entering before this decision in their favor.

And one of the biggest factors Microsoft is touting that will make tablet pc's successful is that Microsoft's tablet pc operating system has the ability to recognize handwriting scribbled on the screen. You know I thought we had been through all these jokes with that portable computer Apple had introduced years ago - you know the one where you scribbled "Meeting in Minneapolis on Tuesday regarding sales performance" and the pc interpreted your scribbling as "Meat market has big sale on roast beef ..." in other words, it just doesn't work that well. In fact a lot of the software written for these tablet type device uses check boxes and selection buttons on the data entry screens to virtually eliminate any scribbling which might be misinterpreted.

Other non-Microsoft related vendors have offered tablet like portable pc's in the marketplace for the past decade, designed for this same ultra-lite computing and the convenience of carrying a computer like device around with them for data retrieval and light data entry, and they have found just a niche marketplace in the industry. However, some of these - the most popular one in fact -has the audacity not to use Microsoft's operating system, which makes it a non-entity in the Microsoft world view. In fact you can go to local office discount stores and see all kinds of small tablet-like information devices selling for as low as under $ 100 that do a pretty decent job of this. Especially if you just want to jot down notes to yourself, maintain a calendar, and be able to retrieve contact information.

Industry analysts are scratching their heads over all this, but probably realize that when the 500 pound gorilla says "Jump !" - all the little monkeys dependent on it jump whichever way they're supposed to.

And today portable notebook computers with real keyboards, big screens, tons of bundled software and dvd drives are now at or below the $ 1000 price point, placing them thousands of dollars below this new generation of tablet pc's, and way beyond them in terms of functionality and power.

Let's see what Bill says about all this in the year 2007 ...

For Raw Bytes, This is Frank Delaney

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