Microsoft And Friends Show Tablet PC OS, Hardware, Software
Microsoft
The vendors used the PC Expo show, held here this week, to show beta software, prototype Tablet PCs and new applications.
The Tablet PC, first unveiled publicly at Comdex Fall in 2000 by Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft, is a concept Microsoft developed to encourage OEMs to build what it touts as the PC of the future.
Key to the Tablet PC is a pen and touch-screen LCD that allows users to write as if on paper. The writing stylus is part of an active digitizer system in which the cursor appears on screen when the stylus is hovering close by and data is input when the stylus touches the screen.
The included software allows the handwritten notes to be deleted, inserted, copied, pasted and searched in much the same way ASCII text is edited on conventional PCs.
Jeff Raikes, group vice president of productivity and business services at Microsoft, used the event to demonstrate prototype Tablet PC designs from Fujitsu PC, Toshiba and Motion Computing, the latter a start-up formed by ex-Dell employees specifically to market Tablet PCs.
Raikes also demonstrated Tablet PC software applications from Corel, Adobe and FranklinCovey/Agilix, and said that SAP is evaluating mobile solutions for the platform. He also demonstrated Microsoft Reader 2.5, an on-screen eBook reading application.
Tablet PCs from some vendors are scheduled to ship Nov. 7, said Raikes. Most vendors, however, declined to provide a specific shipment date, and instead said that shipments are expected in the fourth quarter.
Acer America executives showed the company's Acer TravelMate 100, which features an LCD panel that opens to reveal a keyboard much like that on a conventional notebook PC. However, the panel can be flipped over to act as a notepad. It is powered by an Intel Pentium III mobile processor.
Fujitsu PC, which already produces similar products in its Pen Tablet series of portable PCs, showed a prototype of its Stylistic ST4000, also running the Intel Pentium III mobile processor. It is expected to ship in fourth quarter and will be available with optional USB or infrared keyboards, as well as an optional Tablet Dock docking system to allow the unit to act as a desktop replacement PC, a company spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said there are no plans to discontinue its current Pen Tablet models when the Tablet PC becomes available. Unlike the Tablet PC, the Pen Tablets have a passive digitizer, which works only when an object touches the screen, as well as the Windows 2000 or Window XP Professional operating systems.
Acer and Fujitsu showed the beta version of the Windows XP Professional Tablet PC Edition operating system in operation.
Other vendors showing Tablet PC prototypes at PC Expo include Toshiba's Computer Systems Group, which unveiled its model as part of its Portege family, 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 be instantly transformed into precise graphical images. Those images can be annotated by multiple users.
Productivity software developer FranklinCovey and mobile wireless developer Agilix Labs joined forces to offer the FranklinCovey 1Planner, which on the screen of the Tablet PC looks like a traditional paper-based planner and organizer. Company executives said the planner includes an appointment schedule, a prioritized daily task list and a daily record, and allows organization and access of notes, e-mail and other documents.