.FLYINGHEAD MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEMS
.TITLE Exploring Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
.AUTHOR Jason Giacchino
.SUMMARY Testing new hardware is a time consuming affair, and although well justified, can eat a chunk of evening hours and spread into the morning if you’re not careful. Author Jason Giacchino recently went into the wee hours investigating the Tablet PC and accompanying OS, Windows XP Table Edition. Find out what was gained by the sleep he lost.
.OTHER
I do my best to avoid hearing the birds sing their slightly pre-dawn awakening song from the massive oak outside my office window, but must confess that it happens more often than I’d like to admit. The reality is that breaking in new test hardware is a time consuming affair, and although well justified, can eat a chunk of evening hours that spreads into the morning if you’re not careful.
In my case, having recently studied the practicality of another piece of hardware designed to fill the void between the Palm Tungsten E and Dell Latitude D510 laptop sitting on my desk at work, I was exploring the features Microsoft had packed into Windows XP Tablet PC Edition shown in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A A Tablet PC running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
A sensible travel-friendly slate would, theoretically, function primarily as a useful tool for jotting creative writing thoughts in compact spaces, at least in my own test.
Was this merely a more powerful version of Graffiti 2 in terms of handwriting recognition and text conversion applications? I simply had to find out, even at the cost of a good night’s sleep, and as the birds continued to chirp their welcome to the sun’s early blue kiss across the morning dew, I had come to some pretty solid conclusions.
.BREAK_EMAIL To learn more about Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, click here.
It turns out the original Tablet PC Edition of Windows XP is still fairly young, having been released in November of 2002. Although Microsoft claims handwriting recognition isn’t the centerpiece benefit of using XP Tablet, it is the backbone on this year’s first major revision of the operation system. Codenamed "Lonestar", Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 in Figure B, incorporates Service Pack 2’s increased security and protection features in addition to offering a host of other improvements.
.FIGPAIR B Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 looks like the desktop Windows XP.
Best of all, the upgrade is free for those still using the first version of XP Tablet.
It turns out that Microsoft is pushing the Tablet market to the masses, as they’re producers of the only available operating system for these units (unlike the handheld market where Palm OS offers serious competition for Windows Mobile). The hardware itself is an interesting blend of components and design features that’s truly the middle ground between laptop and handheld. Palm, and particularly Pocket PC users, will have no trouble adapting to the Tablet’s stylus-based interface, and certainly die-hard laptop aficionados shouldn’t have much trouble either.
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The most noteworthy Tablet-specific inclusion is without question the Windows Journal application shown in Figure C, which is basically an ink-based, note-taking, document management system that functions in conjunction with the stylus, appearing as a college ruled sheet of lined paper.
.FIGPAIR C The Windows Journal application presents itself as a sheet of paper.
Of course, it includes toolbars loaded with various pen types, color selections, highlighting tools, even templates and document defaults.
Interestingly, the Journal allows simple highlighting of the handwritten text, which can be copied and pasted in the traditional manner into Notepad, emails, or just about any other text-based application. However, be forewarned, those with illegible handwriting will trick the text converter, allowing for some interesting typos if you aren’t careful in your editing.
In addition to the Journal, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition also includes a Sticky Note application. If Journal were a pen and notebook, Sticky Note would be a pen and yellow Post-It pad. This function doesn’t deal with documents, but rather notes, reminders, memos, and even on the fly audio recording.
Some unplugged users may be wondering exactly what about XP Tablet justifies pulling an all-nighter in initial feature exploration. Well the answer, in its simplest form, is the Tablet PC Office Pack–which as the name suggests, packs many of Microsoft’s wonderful Office applications into the specifics of the Tablet PC’s unique interface.
Tablet Word users are offered the ability to enter ink (stylus handwriting) directly into their documents using a virtual canvas that also allows for written comments in document revision mode. Outlook allows even more stylus-based individuality in the form of handwritten email capabilities, as well as Contacts, Appointments, and Tasks that can be linked through Windows Journal (allowing the user a choice of original ink or type-converted characters).
PowerPoint makes great use of the interface, allowing the user to annotate live presentations with ink. Extremely useful, this feature works best when the user first saves the completed presentation, then makes annotations live, over the original. The user is immediately transformed into a sports caster during a football game, with a light pen to highlight plays on national television replays.
After many hours of careful feature exploration it’s clear the Tablet PC indeed fills a gap in the mobile computing market, justifying Microsoft’s push in the market place. There are situations where banging away on a laptop keyboard, while attempting to balance the flip top case (while standing up) simply isn’t an option. Likewise, there are also situations in which the handheld units simply don’t suffice (as in putting on a PowerPoint presentation), where the Tablet PC fits into the equation like the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle.
Skeptics and naysayers are quick to point out that Tablet PC’s are generally overpriced, considering they still come equipped with mid to lower high-end component selection. However, to those seeking the unique options and mobility the Tablet offers, it’s probably redundant to assemble a pros/cons rundown, as the good simply outweighs the bad.
It’s exciting to witness a relatively young market segment bloom into a very important specialization among mobile computer users. Fears of the Tablet replacing either the laptop or handheld are null; it compliments each, acting as a middle ground between the two.
The software is certainly powerful enough, and compliments the stable and convenient hardware design. With all of the timesaving features Microsoft has included in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, there are few excuses remaining as to why a user couldn’t get things done. Even if the goal of the night is to simply get some sleep.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/default.mspx.
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.BIO Fiction novel author and Web editor, Jason Giacchino is proud to have become a part of the Computing Unplugged scene and can be reached via email at JGRider11@aol.com.
