The Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Platform Software Development Kit (SDK) contains the information you need to develop applications for Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. The Tablet PC platform encompasses Windows XP and its extensions that enable input and output of handwriting and speech data on a Tablet PC as well as interchange of this data with other computers.
Elsewhere, the ADO.NET 2.0 extends and enhances ADO.NET in multiple directions. This quick video peek at ADO.NET covers some of the disconnected stack enhancements, shows what the new provider-independent model looks like and briefly covers the new batching support in the connected stack.
..if this Tablet PC thing is selling well. Haven’t seen any around here yet…
No, they aren’t doing very well at all. You can find out about it with some minor googling. Here’s one link to the register’s story:
http://www.theregister.com/2003/10/23/tablet_pc_oems_chafe/
There are a lot of theories/reasons why the tablet isn’t selling. Some blame MS’s lack of support and marketing, some blame the manufacturers, but it may simply be the case that people don’t want to use them. Their primary mode of input is handwriting (although a keyboard may be attached), and maybe people don’t want to handwrite everything. I sure don’t. Keying is much faster and more efficient. I can’t even handwrite for any stretch of time anymore without a wrist cramp. And if you are going to key everything, why bother getting a tablet? Just buy a laptop.
I’m not going to bash MS for trying something different. Notice I said different, not new. The Newton did this a decade ago and was smaller, and they also flopped. Apple quietly developed Newton’s handwriting recognition after its demise, and now it’s tucked into OSX as “Inkwell.” Inkwell’s pretty cool, but it doesn’t seem to be hyped much:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/inkwell/
It’s funny that the Newton flopped and then PDAs caught on. Was the Newton just ahead of it’s time, or were people put off by its spotty handwriting recognition, or what? Now, tablet pcs have basically flopped, but still the laptop roars ahead. Who can guess how these things will turn out? I guess that’s why companies sometimes don’t “innovate” as much as we would like; if they jump too far ahead, they get swashed.
Just out of curiosity, I noticed that you said you haven’t seen them where you are. Are you outside of the US? I work in IT (in Texas) and I’ve never seen a single person actually using a tablet. Does anyone know if they are popular in other parts of the US, parts of the world, or perhaps specific industries (maybe the medical field)?
Generally speaking, they’re not selling as well as Microsoft has expected. My guess is not enough purpose in the real world, and for the cases where mobile computing is needed, light weight laptops and cheap PDAs fit the job just fine.
We have one in my office (Connecticut). Kinda funny because I work at a non-profit org. My boss bought the tablet to explore new options, we create data-collection/data-entry software. Right now we do it on PocketPCs, my boss wants to see if the TabletPC would make the data input easier, and also do mapping on the road.
I’m in Oslo, Norway, and people usually love this kind of gadgets here (well, _any_ gadgets), so the fact I haven’t seen any was making me quite sure this thing wasn’t selling at all
Alot of digital artists are buying Tablet PCs; the handwriting recognition/pressure sensetivity and the compact, portable form-factor let them pretty much carry the Tablets where-ever they want to go, like a digital sketchpad. Since its just running a copy of XP, they can use their favorite art tools, too.
There’s a Tablet PC called Sketcher that has an 8 hour battery life. Guess what market its designed for? ;p
The Newton used an adaptive handwriting recognition, which tried to learn how its owner formed letters. The algorithims for this were very memory intensive and did not work very well. This eventually lead to its unfortunate death. The developers of the original Palm Pilot, many of which came from Apple and the Newton development team, learned from their mistakes. The did some market research and found that it was easier for the user to learn a standard set of “pen strokes” that the OS could then translate into commands, characters, etc… vs. trying to get the OS to learn the users writing style. This is what allowed Palm to take off.
They also designed the Palm for the person who was constantly “on the go”, trying to simplify the UI as much as possible, also adapted from Apple Macintosh. Tap an item in the address list once to view the record. Tap the edit button once to edit the item. Tap the application icon once to launch the program, etc… etc…,
People going through the supermarket do not have time to wait for thier shopping list to come up, they want it now. Keeping that in mind it was designed for speed and simplicity not a replacement for the desktop. Much of this information can be found in the book Palm OS Programming, published by O’Reilly ISBN = 1-56592-856-3. It explains why Palm succeded and why the Newton didn’t. It also explains why Pocket PC’s will never replace the Palm.
From a functional stand point the Tablet PC is having similar problems as the Newton, or at least that is what I’ve heard. The algorithims for handwriting recognition are not working as expected making people work harder than what they need/want to make it usable. Secondly they are trying to take the Windows Desktop OS and make it work for an enlarged version of the Pocekt PC. Which was also suppose to mimic the desktop.
What the minds at MS have neglected to consider is that one Operating System/Operating Environment will fit all computing needs. Which I find humorus becuase one of the reasons the relationship between IBM and MS came to an end with the OS/2 project was IBM wanted an OS that worked on all its different hardware platforms. It also wanted a fully integrated office suite known as IBM Works that would also work on all these platforms. MS said your nuts and secretly developed NT, while telling IBM’s customers that OS/2 will never work (Another story for another time).
The other problem with the Tablet PC is, its priced to high for what customers are expecting out of it. Most consumers see the tablet as a tier between the Palm/Pocket PC and the Laptop/Desktop. That being the case they want to see a price tag somewhere between the Palm and Desktop.
But with both Palm and MS packing more into the PDA and smart phone; Its placing those products at a price level which people would expect to pay for a Tablet. $79 – $100 for a PDA which gives you the power of Outlook in your hand is a fair price, but people want other “Office” software to be packed into something the size of a PDA so they can take it on the road with them and leave everyting else at home.
I wouldn’t mind spending $500 for a Tablet/Slate that had a 10″ – 12″ diagnal screen with a PIM, E-Book reader, and office suite on it. But people are expecting way to much from these products cuasing the price to be to high. The demand just isn’t there becuase the laptop fills the role.
Tablet PCs seem to simply be an excuse to sell the older, smaller LCD panels. The manufacturers must have warehouses full of these things, and not many want laptops with less that 14″ LCDs these days.
I’ll buy one 2nd hand, when I can be sure the digitizer is supported by Linux because i want to use it, as previous posters have mentioned, for digital illustration with the GIMP and SodiPodi, but as far as ‘business users’ go, I think tablets are almost completely pointless.
I would like to see the digitizer surface built into every laptop, whether tablet or not, I can’t believe its particularly expensive, and whether they support handwriting recognition or not, its nice to be able to draw straight on the laptops screen, or point, click and drag directly on the screen.
“The Newton used an adaptive handwriting recognition, which tried to learn how its owner formed letters. The algorithims for this were very memory intensive and did not work very well. This eventually lead to its unfortunate death.”
I would have to disagree with this assessment. While there were clearly some issues with the handwriting recognition in the first generation of Newtons (as was so famously lampooned in Doonsbury), the improved hardware configuration (read: more memory) in later models made the handwriting recognition exceptional. Unfortunately, the reputation for poor handwriting recognition stuck to a certain extent.
It could certainly be argued that the death of the newton had to do with bad early press, it’s being an idea too far ahead of the curve at the time or it’s being too expensive, the idea that it was killed because of poor performance is laughable to anyone who has really used one seriously. Personally I think it’s premature death had far more to do with Steve Jobs’ need to refocus Apple’s product line (his desire to purge Apple of John Sculley’s pet project notwithstanding) upon his return to Apple than anything. The Newton division was actually a profitable unit of Apple at the time IIRC.
Frankly, the Newton rivals anything currently produced. I’ve used a multitude palm and wince devices and the newton not only bests them all easily in both perfomance and functionality, but also performs the vast majority of the functions the average road warrior would require from a laptop. All this 7+ years after their production run ended. Given the virtual eternity that the better part of 7 years amounts to in the technology world I’d say that speaks volumes about how well implimented and designed they actually were.
Frankly, the Newton rivals anything currently produced. I’ve used a multitude palm and wince devices and the newton not only bests them all easily in both perfomance and functionality, but also performs the vast majority of the functions the average road warrior would require from a laptop. All this 7+ years after their production run ended. Given the virtual eternity that the better part of 7 years amounts to in the technology world I’d say that speaks volumes about how well implimented and designed they actually were.
Uh, no, disagree. The Newton was, for all practical purposes, hampered by underpowered hardware/software. The handwriting recognition was rudimentary. App integration was crap compared to Tablets.
…While there were clearly some issues with the handwriting recognition in the first generation of Newtons (as was so famously lampooned in Doonsbury)…
These strips are always mentioned whenever people talk about Newton. I wonder if there’s any site where I could see them?
The handwriting recognition was rudimentary. App integration was crap compared to Tablets.
Riiight. It’s so much more advanced and useful to have a digitized image of the text you input like Tablets use as standard as opposed to having actual text like the Newton gives you. Please. The actual handwriting recognition routine in tablets works so poorly they barely admit it’s there.
Also, all the data entered into Newtons is stored in object-oriented databases called “soups” which are available to any and all programs. Thus any application can access data from any other application. I’d say that translates into much better application integration than you imply, but perhaps I misunderstand what you’re referring to.
These strips are always mentioned whenever people talk about Newton. I wonder if there’s any site where I could see them?
You could go to Doonesbury’s archive site, but I think it’s pay only. The strips ran in late August of ’93, I think.
an image from an easter egg in the NewtonOS that will give you a taste is available here:
http://www.msu.edu/~luckie/egg.gif