There's been quite a lot of press and blog speculation that Microsoft are thinking of abandoning the Tablet PC platform. I'm not close enough to Microsoft to be able to confirm or deny that, but I can say that the various Microsoft employees and MVP's that frequent TabletPCBuzz.com adamantly deny it. The press is focussing on the slow uptake of the platform, poor performance of first generation tablets, and issues with the first generation of Windows XP for Tablet PC as being the causes for the market's apparent apathy for the platform.
I'd be very sad indeed if Microsoft were to discontinue the line. All indications though are that they have absolutely no intention of abandoning it. The Tablet PC shifted about 500,000 units last year, which is apparently in line with Microsoft's expectations. It's a new platform, a first for 32-Bit Windows and it's bound to take a while to catch on. Some pundits have noted though that it's been a long time since we've seen a radical shift in hardware design and functionality enter the market, and businesses (the predicted biggest investors in Tablet PC hardware) are naturally reluctant to shell out millions just because something looks cool. Instead, these pundits note that there have been trends in sales spotted that can be linked to businesses upgrading existing hardware at the end of it's life. For example, if a business has 500 notebooks that are all due for renewal this year, there's a very strong chance that many of them will be replaced with Tablet PC.
And why not? A question I'm often asked by colleagues and customers when they see the Tablet PC is "Why?". After all Tablet PCs are expensive toys right? THey are underpowered compared to regular notebooks, and you pay a premium for that lack of performance don't you? The software hacked onto Windows XP is first cut, and you should never trust version 1.0, should you? And so what about that rotating screen; the ink recognition software is so poor you end up using it like a normal notebook anyway don't you? Why not get a normal notebook then ?
I'm a huge Tablet PC fan - always have been since the day I first saw them previewed. The problem I think with the general perception of Tablets is that people look at them as standard notebooks with a twist (a 180 degree twist - boom boom <sorry>), when in fact they are not. Tablets are a whole new kind of computer that opens up a world of opportunities you just don't realise until you actually use one for a while. Before I get into that though, I want to explain just why I like them.
To put things in context I have three professional roles; I'm an author (11 books and counting), a developer and a technology consultant. All three roles require me to run a vast amount of software in my PC's ranging from virtual machines hosting server environments, through to development tools (mainly Visual Studio), to office productivity tools and so on. My jobs require that I hack a lot of code, organise a lot of tasks and meetings, and read a lot of text. I have two Tablet PCs (one I begged my employers to buy me, and one I recently bought for myself for Alpha and Beta testing the OS). In addition I have an IBM Thinkpad of my own, and a twin monitored behemoth for development and gaming at home. I just sold an Apple iBook and a phenomenally powerful Apple TiBook. With all that technology at my disposal though I find myself spending most of my time, through personal choice, with a Tablet PC. Why? Simply because it's a much more fulfilling user experience.
My Acer tablet (the new one) runs both Visual Studio 2003 and VIsual Studio 2005 just fine. I don't have any major delays that turn me off the machine. The machine has half a gig of memory in it and runs a centrino 1ghz processor and everything runs just fine thankyou very much. Some of my colleagues sneer at my tablets and question whether they really can be used as development machines and the simple answer is yes. With incremental compilation the norm these days I rarely have to recompile a huge multi project solution in it's entirety, so I'm not likely to sit drumming my fingers waiting for a compile, and I doubt any other developers would either. I can run up Windows Server 2003 in a Virtual PC and test Sharepoint and Biztalk code against it just fine too. Why not. It doesn't matter if the virtual machine is slow since I'm developing on a native client, deploying from it and testing with it. As long as the server responds quick enough I'm happy, and it's never let me down yet.
When I'm not developing, I'm capturing information, be it notes, appointment requests, task lists etc. I use OneNote from Microsoft to capture my notes and I've done away with the reams of crumpled lined paper that used to fill my rucksack on the trips to the office. I can store thousands upon thousands of pages of hand written notes on designs, customers, meeting minutes, ideas - anything I like, all in one small lightweight device. In addition, I can index all that handwriting and search on it. Sure the handwriting recognition in version 1.0 can be twitchy, but not so twitchy that I've ever had a crucial search for data fail me. For my scheduling and planning I use Franklin Covey's Tablet Planner, which to all intents and purposes is a Franklin Covey organiser, in a computer. I can handwrite notes in it, appointments, contact information - anything I like. If I'm going to a meeting at a customer site I can even hit the network and print of crucial documents using the built in planner printer and build a portfolio of annotateable information right in my planner. Again, no crumpled bits of paper, no hunting around for information.
When I'm not developing or capturing information, I'm reading (I know, that's capturing info too). The Tablet PC excels at this. While my colleagues are forced to kill small forests to print documents, or worse still tap Page Down repeatedly in Acrobat to read a document, I can just twist my screen flat and rotate it to portrait mode. Shift L in the Acrobat puts the document in full screen view and then I'm reading just as if I was looking at a piece of paper. I can carry a small library with me and read it comfortably, while other notebook users endure third degree burns to their upper thighs and neck cramps from leaning forward to look at the screen attached to their machines, all the while it's bouncing around if you're on a train or a bus. I can annotate what I read and come back to it later. I can cut and paste vital information with my pen into any app I choose instantly letting me build up files of quote notes with OneNote. So, given that I can develop, schedule, take notes, organize my life, and research more conveniently with a tablet PC than with any other computer I have access to, while the hell shouldn't I be a big fan. In fact, why aren't you?
The first downer is of course the price. Tablets, like any new technology are pricey. Or are they? I just took a look at Dell's site to find an ultra slim, ultra lightweight portable with the same battery life as my Acer, same weight etc. My Acer cost me 1000 pounds. The Dell Lattitude X300, it's nearest traditional notebook equivalent costs 939 excluding tax. With tax it goes up to a impressive 1103 for the bottom of the line.. And you thought Tablet PC's were pricey. Maybe that's just Dell though. Let me check out another major manufacturer. Toshiba. We'll aim low and avoid the awesome Tecras and just look at the Portege range (the notebooks, not the tablets). The R100 has a 1ghz Centrino, 40 gig drive, 256 Meg of Ram (doh). Its basically the same spec as my Acer. Price, including tax - 1526. Ouch. It doesn't even have the same amount of memory as my Acer, lacks bluetooth, has a shorter battery life and supports the much older ACPI 1.0 power management standard (my Acer supports version 2.0). I could continue, but I think you get the point.
So the next downer - the screen. Most Tablets have a 10 or 12 inch screen limited to 1024x768. If you're a graphic designer on the move that could be limiting. If you are a .NET programmer that's definately a problem given how much real estate the IDE takes up. So I'll concede that one. BUT, take it from me, once you get used to the lower resolution of a tablet (it takes about 10 minutes) it's a non issue.
Next, handwriting recognition. A lot of people are missing the point here. If you are a technophobe that cant type then handwriting recognition is a biggie and sure Version 1 of the OS had some issues. However, why would you want to convert your handwriting? If you're just taking notes for yourself, or jotting down the odd diagram then it doesn't matter does it. If you're a keyboard whizz you can probably type faster than you can write, and if that's the case then you're undoubtedly going to type all your emails and documents anyway, so what's the problem with the recognition flakiness. If on the other hand you can't type then I can almost guarantee that once you get used to it you can handwrite and convert an email etc quicker than you could struggle with a keyboard. With Lonestar the recognition engine is vastly improved as are the tools for correcting mistakes and capturing ink for conversion anyway. Lonestar is supposed to be a free upgrade, so as far as I'm concerned any problems there are answered too.
Performance is an issue if you are used to a monster of a machine, but think about this for a second. How much time do you really spend relying on the machine to do something, and how much time do you spend doing something with the machine waiting for you? I'd bet the latter is higher. If you're coding, and coding smart, you'll be typing more than your compiling. If your writing a document in Word the machine is pretty much just sitting there in the background spell checking you and waiting. Do you really want to spend a bunch of cash on a big fat heavy hot notebook who's power you are only really going to use once every 30 minutes or so? I don't. I'd rather have the flexibility of my tablet and wait an extra 4 seconds when I compile something big every now and then.
There are converse arguments against traditional notebooks too. You can't use a notebook in a customer facing meeting; it's rude to stick a screen up between you and your contact. You can't use a traditional notebook in a cramped space (like an airplane seat), but you can use a tablet, especially if you fold the screen. You can't easily get all your handwritten crap into a traditional notebook, indexed and sortable, but it's a no brainer on a tablet. You can't easily collobarate face to face with someone on a notebook, but sliding a screen and a pen to someone is a no brainer too (you should try this when building a presentation in a brainstorming session with the machine hooked up to a projector - it's great fun). You can't easily add freeform notes, annotations, editing marks and drawings to any kind of document with a notebook, but you can with a tablet. The list goes on and on and on.
The point I'm trying to make here is that all the arguments people have put towards tablets are today either moot or insignificant. Tablets are no more expensive by and large than their equivalent (by which I mean high battery life, low weight, ultra slim) notebooks. They run at about the same speed too. THey are all round more convenient to use daily, and open up a world of opportunities for reading, research, notetaking etc that just aren't possible with a traditional notebook. WIth Lonestar as well all the software issues that bugged the first generation of tablets are cured.
I guarantee you that within 5 years you'll have a tablet. Why? Because this is the way all notebooks are destined to be made. So, why wait? Switch now.
10:56:11 PM 
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