Microsoft Ushers In Tablet PC Era
The software giant unveiled the beta version of its Windows XP Professional Tablet PC Edition operating system last week at PC Expo in New York. Several vendors,including Acer America, Fujitsu PC, Motion Computing and Toshiba,also showcased prototype Tablet PCs, beta software and new applications at the show.
The tablet computer tour de force comes as Microsoft readies its Tablet PC specifications for a planned fall release. First unveiled publicly at Comdex/Fall 2000 by Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates, the Tablet PC is Microsoft's PC vision for the future, and the software vendor is encouraging OEMs to embrace it.
Key to the Tablet PC is a pen and touch-screen LCD that allows users to write as if they were using paper. The writing stylus is part of an active digitizer system, in which a cursor appears on-screen when the stylus hovers nearby and data is entered when the stylus touches the screen. The software included in the tablet computer enables the handwritten notes to be deleted, inserted, copied, pasted and searched in much the same way that ASCII text is edited on conventional desktop and notebook PCs.
At PC Expo, Jeff Raikes, group vice president of productivity and business services at Microsoft, demonstrated prototype Tablet PC designs from Fujitsu PC, Toshiba and Motion Computing. The latter company is a start-up that former Dell Computer employees launched specifically to market Tablet PCs.
Raikes also demonstrated Tablet PC applications from Corel, Adobe Systems and FranklinCovey-Agilix Labs, as well as Microsoft Reader 2.5, an on-screen eBook reading application. Business software vendor SAP also is evaluating mobile solutions for the Tablet PC platform, he added.
\
Microsoft Group Vice President Jeff Raikes shows off prototypes of the Fujitsu Tablet PC and Windows Pocket PC phone/PDA at PC Expo.
Some vendors plan to ship their Tablet PCs in early November, Raikes said. However, most vendors declined to specify a ship date, saying only that they expect to release their products in the fourth quarter.
At the show, Acer introduced its Acer TravelMate 100, which features an LCD panel that can be opened to access a keyboard,much like that on a conventional notebook,and flipped over to act as a notepad. The unit is powered by an Intel Pentium III mobile processor.
Fujitsu PC, which already produces similar products with its Pen Tablet line of portable PCs, exhibited a prototype of its Stylistic ST4000, which also uses the Pentium III mobile processor. The product, due to ship in the fourth quarter, will be available with optional USB or infrared keyboards, as well as an optional Tablet Dock docking station that allows the unit to act as a desktop replacement PC, a company spokesperson said.
Fujitsu PC doesn't plan to discontinue its current Pen Tablet models when the Tablet PC becomes available, the spokesperson added. Unlike the Tablet PC, the Pen Tablets have a passive digitizer, which works only when an object touches the screen, and they run Microsoft's Windows 2000 or Window XP Professional operating systems. Fujitsu PC and Acer demonstrated the Windows XP Professional Tablet PC Edition beta on their products at PC Expo.
\
Fujitsu PC's Stylistic ST4000 Tablet PC has an optional docking station.
Other vendors showing Tablet PC prototypes at the show included Toshiba, whose Computer Systems Group unveiled its tablet computer under its Portege product line, and ViewSonic, whose Tablet PC 1100 is based on the Pentium III mobile processor.
On the software side, Corel demonstrated a prototype of its Project Coligo, an application that allows sketches to be drawn on the Tablet PC and instantly transformed into precise graphical images. Multiple users also can annotate the images.
In addition, productivity software developer FranklinCovey and mobile wireless developer Agilix Labs joined forces to offer the FranklinCovey 1Planner, which resembles a traditional paper-based planner and organizer on the Tablet PC screen. Company executives said the application includes an appointment scheduler, a prioritized daily task list and a daily record. The tool also allows access to notes, e-mail and other documents.
The Tablet PC is part of a broader Microsoft initiative to help make information workers,or "knowledge workers",more productive, according to Raikes. Other products in that strategy include Office 11, a new version of Microsoft Office due to be released in mid-2003, and the Microsoft Windows- powered Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition, a wireless PDA with voice and data capabilities that VoiceStream/T-Mobile is slated to launch later this summer.