After failing to break into the mainstream of computing, the Tablet PC might have been written off by many, but it still has at least one strong supporter. Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft, said Monday that he still believes in the form-factor and repeated a prediction that, with better hardware and software, it could still dominate traditional laptop PCs.
Gates showed prototype Tablet PCs at the Comdex show in Las Vegas in 2001--a year ahead of their 2002 launch--and at the show said in a statement, "It's a PC that is virtually without limits and within five years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America."
Slow Progress
It's now a little over three and a half years into the time period he set, and to date the Tablet PC has managed to do only marginally better than the now defunct Comdex trade show. A handful of vendors market Tablet PCs, but specialized markets such as health care account for a large percentage of sales. Other users, and those in business, have yet to take to the form factor in a big way.
News source: PCWorld.com
Gates showed prototype Tablet PCs at the Comdex show in Las Vegas in 2001--a year ahead of their 2002 launch--and at the show said in a statement, "It's a PC that is virtually without limits and within five years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America."
Slow Progress
It's now a little over three and a half years into the time period he set, and to date the Tablet PC has managed to do only marginally better than the now defunct Comdex trade show. A handful of vendors market Tablet PCs, but specialized markets such as health care account for a large percentage of sales. Other users, and those in business, have yet to take to the form factor in a big way.
News source: PCWorld.com
AMD said Intel’s illegal and unfair actions include the following:
- Intel has forced major customers into exclusive or near-exclusive deals;
- Intel has conditioned rebates, allowances and market development funding on customers’ agreement to severely limit or forego entirely purchases from AMD;
- Intel has established a system of discriminatory, retroactive, first-dollar rebates triggered by purchases at such high levels as to have the practical and intended effect of denying customers the freedom to purchase any significant volume of processors from AMD;
- Intel has threatened retaliation against customers introduc ing AMD computer platforms, particularly in strategic market segments;
- Intel has established and enforced quotas among key retailers effectively requiring them to stock overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, Intel-powered computers, thereby artificially limiting consumer choice;
- It has forced PC makers and technology partners to boycott AMD product launches and promotions;
- Intel has abused its market power by forcing on the industry technical standards and products which have as their central purpose the handicapping of AMD in the marketplace.
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Its the best computer I have ever had.
This article doesn't seem to be giving Tablet the credit it deserves. The market really has improved a lot lately. With IBM/Lenovo releasing a Tablet and Toshiba now offering Tablets in all three of their product lines (satellite/tecra/portege) along with all the others (HP, Acer, Motion, Gateway, etc)... it's easy to see that tablets are the natural evolution of the laptop.
Anyone who watches Sky News in the UK has probably seen one of the journalists using one while standing on the stage.
For all the people that successfully acquired the skill of keyboarding will tell you that typing is so much faster than writing/writing recognition. On top of that, if there is any important diagram given in class, that is only when tablet comes into play.
Did you know that OneNote is almost close to useless because whenever I record conversations in meeting, I always hear hard drive clicking during playback? That's very annoying..another downside for Tablet PC.
IBM Thinkpad X41T sounds like a great machine to have, and I don't exclude it from my future buying option. For other brands, such as Toshiba, Compaq and other Tablets, I will have to say no. Sorry.. it is just not ready yet, and USA has always been the slowest country to adope newest technology unfortunately.
I agree, for someone who neither need to look at the keys when typing, nor have to spend time thinking before knowing where a key is, I also think this method is superior. I can make an 'A' instantly by pressing the key, and certainly don't need to write anything and having it recognize the letter. Since I see the text as I type it, there are no/few issues leading to mistypings either, like letter recognition has.
Why?
I can curl up on the couch and read email, browse the web, IM, etc. I can draw. I can take handwritten notes (OneNote is a godsend) and I can work standing up.
For those of us who can type, the digitizer won't replace the keyboard. But in many situations it's better than the mouse. And in others it can do things neither can.
I don't like these hybrid tablet PC/Laptops with the built in keyboard. The keyboard makes them too bulky to be attractive. Instead of trying to attract current laptop users, why not just appeal to a new market?
There is little to no use for a keyboard with a Tablet PC.
In the early history of the Earth essentially all the atmospheric oxygen was produced by eukaryotic phytoplankton and cyanobacteria. Plants had not yet invaded the terrestrial environment --that came much later.
/End of Biology 101
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