Microsoft Courier
http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet?skyline=true&s=x (http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet?skyline=true&s=x)
discuss..
That looks pretty damn cool! Too bad it's Microsoft. :(
I like the size & the bookish form factor.
Quote from: Mad Duc on September 23, 2009, 05:04:22 AM
That looks pretty damn cool! Too bad it's Microsoft. :( .............
Kinda suspicious that the demo was animated. But then, I didn't see the whole thing because my browser (MS Explorer) locked up.
The demo video was pretty cool, and I could see it being pretty useful.
mitt
Quote from: Johnny OrganDonor on September 23, 2009, 06:33:42 AM
Kinda suspicious that the demo was animated. But then, I didn't see the whole thing because my browser (MS Explorer) locked up.
Agreed. Unless I see the real thing in a video and not an animation I'm not impressed.
Quote from: Johnny OrganDonor on September 23, 2009, 06:33:42 AM
But then, I didn't see the whole thing because my browser (MS Explorer) locked up.
That'll probably be a pretty accurate representation of using the product. ;D
Cool, but I don't see many useful applications. Without a keyboard, it would be a clipboard. The world's most expensive, stealable clipboard. As desirable as that sounds, I am not sure what this can can do that a laptop enabled with today's latest sitting-on-a-horizontal-surface technology could not.
Quote from: il d00d on September 23, 2009, 09:30:59 AM
Cool, but I don't see many useful applications. Without a keyboard, it would be a clipboard. The world's most expensive, stealable clipboard. As desirable as that sounds, I am not sure what this can can do that a laptop enabled with today's latest sitting-on-a-horizontal-surface technology could not.
touch screen?
hand writing to text conversion?
sketch pad for design?
as for a keyboard, it will have a touch screen keyboard.
mitt
I would have to think they would put a touch screen keyboard like mitt said. Hell, my phone has one so a computer like that should...
Sure, it can do all that stuff, but what need is it satisfying that is not already being satisfied by existing, not to mention better/more efficient technology?
Sketch? tablet+stylus, mouse
Handwriting conversion? Even phones can do this, but why write slowly when you can type fast?
Touch screen? These are nice, but only if you don't have a better input device like a mouse or keyboard.
Touch screen keyboard? I am not sure how it would work on this device, but I doubt it would work as well as a physical keyboard. Sacrificing a screen to type would probably take away some of its functionality.
These are all nice add-ons, but I don't think putting them all together results in something that can replace the things they add on to.
Designer of some kind. That is about the only job description that I can think of where it would fill a niche.
keyboards take up room that could otherwise be used for display when the keyboard is not in use. Plus, without a physical keyboard, the overall size can be reduced...
I could see it being used in a bunch of situations. I would use it for travel & photography. I could see builders using it for pictures and on site billing/scheduling. Designers as you said too. As long as it's easy to use and hopefully has a USB port it would be great. No USB ports and usefulness would go way down. No mention of USB on the webpage but that doesn't rule it out...
Not to belabor the point To completely belabor the point this is how I see Life with a Courier. The same goes for most tablet devices without traditional input methods.
Go to a class or meeting, take notes. Frantically slash away at the screen trying to take handwritten notes, or use the on-screen keyboard, which hopefully works and with text that I can hopefully see. Make sketch, which hopefully does not require me to physically move the device from horizontal typing mode to vertical sketch mode and back again. Result looks like I have sketched it on a 7" touch screen - make note to improve on sketch on actual computer.
Stop by Starbucks, have a $7 coffee, browse the web on my Courier, and look extremely cool
Go back to the office to collate all this stuff, do actual work on my desktop or laptop.
Life with a laptop:
Take notes on keyboard. Sketch things on notepad, to be scanned later. If I have time, fire up Visio or a photoshop lite
Stop by Starbucks, have $7 coffee, look marginally less cool. Get actual work done.
Quote from: il d00d on September 23, 2009, 11:01:17 AM
Not to belabor the point To completely belabor the point this is how I see Life with a Courier. The same goes for most tablet devices without traditional input methods.
Go to a class or meeting, take notes. Frantically slash away at the screen trying to take handwritten notes, or use the on-screen keyboard, which hopefully works and with text that I can hopefully see. Make sketch, which hopefully does not require me to physically move the device from horizontal typing mode to vertical sketch mode and back again. Result looks like I have sketched it on a 7" touch screen - make note to improve on sketch on actual computer.
Stop by Starbucks, have a $7 coffee, browse the web on my Courier, and look extremely cool
Go back to the office to collate all this stuff, do actual work on my desktop or laptop.
Life with a laptop:
Take notes on keyboard. Sketch things on notepad, to be scanned later. If I have time, fire up Visio or a photoshop lite
Stop by Starbucks, have $7 coffee, look marginally less cool. Get actual work done.
jesus, we get it. you think this is the best thing since sliced bread. stop being such a microsoft fanboy. :P
Quote from: il d00d on September 23, 2009, 10:10:08 AM
Sure, it can do all that stuff, but what need is it satisfying that is not already being satisfied by existing, not to mention better/more efficient technology?
Sketch? tablet+stylus, mouse
Handwriting conversion? Even phones can do this, but why write slowly when you can type fast?
Touch screen? These are nice, but only if you don't have a better input device like a mouse or keyboard.
Touch screen keyboard? I am not sure how it would work on this device, but I doubt it would work as well as a physical keyboard. Sacrificing a screen to type would probably take away some of its functionality.
These are all nice add-ons, but I don't think putting them all together results in something that can replace the things they add on to.
Designer of some kind. That is about the only job description that I can think of where it would fill a niche.
you would never make it as an inventor would you?
mitt
Quote from: mitt on September 23, 2009, 12:06:53 PM
you would never make it as an inventor would you?
mitt
An inventor of impractical things, no :)
Quote from: KnightofNi on September 23, 2009, 11:34:26 AM
jesus, we get it. you think this is the best thing since sliced bread. stop being such a microsoft fanboy. :P
Haha... hush, you ;D
[threatens to bring up past arguments...]
Quote from: il d00d on September 23, 2009, 12:09:11 PM
An inventor of impractical things, no :)
Haha... hush, you ;D
[threatens to bring up past arguments...]
i really do like this idea.
it's one step closer to the book that penny had in inspector gadget.
i wanted that book in the worst way.
So let's see what failure system this Microsoft product will bring into the everyday vernacular
"Red ring of Death"
"Blue Screen of Death"
Quote from: CairnsDuc on September 23, 2009, 02:22:56 PM
So let's see what failure system this Microsoft product will bring into the everyday vernacular
"Red ring of Death"
"Blue Screen of Death"
Doesn't apple have one of those phrases too?
mitt
Quote from: mitt on September 23, 2009, 06:12:07 PM
Doesn't apple have one of those phrases too?
mitt
yeah
it's "you need a diff program to run that on this system"
Quote from: mitt on September 23, 2009, 06:12:07 PM
Doesn't apple have one of those phrases too?
mitt
Yeah it's called "Have your Credit Card Ready"
They are trying to charge you for everything now, even a simple update for my 6 month old iPod touch is nearly $10.
I was thinking the "ball of death" but couldn't remember it last night
mitt
isnt it the pinwheel of death?
thats what my dad (a macophile) calls it
If I recall correctly, on the old Mac systems, a round black bomb with a lit fuse would appear during a crash. If you saw that, it was usually very bad.
Unfortunately, the Courier cannot be resurrected as easily as this thread. Alas, it is a goner
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/29/microsoft-confirms-kills-courier-in-one-fell-swoop/ (http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/29/microsoft-confirms-kills-courier-in-one-fell-swoop/)
Now that Apple has proven that most people just want a web browser it kind of a shame this thing will never see the light of day. And now that I think of it, it may have been unlikely to have ever been produced - Microsoft developing hardware? Aside from Apple, manufacturers seem to be taking the "if we make it they will come" approach to the tablet and the operating systems they will run. It seems like the hardware manufacturers are really driving the efforts today.
But it is also surprising that MS did not see what probably would have been a loss leader project through - they could have taken the Xbox approach and lost some (well, lots of) money in exchange for for future market share. Instead, they are probably going to throw more money at Windows Mobile 7, which I don't think has any chance of gaining any ground on Apple, RIM, or the heir apparent Google.
From what I've read (and experienced as an ex-MSFT guy) the snakes nest that is internal Microsoft politics killed the tablet.
Windows guys didn't want it cutting into their OS sales.
Office guys didn't want to support handwriting
X-Box guys didn't want it cutting into their game sales.
So it never made it out the door.
Mind you, I'm not running out the door to buy a iPad.
The whole apple iPad/Iphone model reminds me of Singapore:
Clean
Efficient
Disturbingly Authoritarian.
Quote from: Drunken Monkey on May 24, 2010, 07:57:55 PM
...snip...
The whole apple iPad/Iphone model reminds me of Singapore:
Clean
Efficient
Disturbingly Authoritarian.
[clap] [clap]
so, if you jailbreak the iWhatever, do you get caned, or have a hand cut off? maybe its a graduated system of punishment?
Add Wikipedia and GPS and you have the Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy.