Microsoft Courier | The Coffeehouse

Ray7

Well, I'm speechless. so if I were you, I'd just head over to Gizmodo and take a look for yourselves.

And be sure to watch the video.

jamie

very interesting

edit: i like the full open metaphor - as in a book -= but one side is search and one side is collect.

amazing ... in ... 9 years

iphone anyone? haha

Ray7

In reply to jamie

#Sep 22nd @ 10:53 PM

Multi-touch and handwriting recognition. If MS gets this right (and they have to release it first) they could walk away with the education market.

algorith

Just saw the video and I must say this looks like something I'd actually use. I carry around so many papers, lecture notes, etc if this can properly imitate the use of a notebook and a pencil while providing ease of use and pc synchronization, I'd get one.

Ray7

In reply to algorith

#Sep 22nd @ 11:22 PM

But can it go a full day before it needs charging?

leeappdalecom
.nettter

In reply to Ray7

#Sep 22nd @ 11:31 PM

Looks very impressive but isn't this all stuff I can do with my laptop? I mean I like having everything in one place, I already carry an iPhone and Laptop and I take notes in meeting using my laptop. I could see this being used maybe just for carrying around to take notes on etc but really if I'm going to carry a device around it would either be my smartphone and/or my laptop.

Do devices like these really fill a need in the market or are they just niche products or toys for geeks? I feel the same about Apple tablet and any other "mid range" device.

Dr Herbie
Horses for courses

In reply to leeappdalecom

#Sep 23rd @ 12:13 AM

I don't think it's niche, I think it's a step towards the 'ubiquitous PC' that doesn't look like a traditional PC; like MS Surface turning your coffee table into an interactive coffee table, this appears to be turning your notepad into an interactive notepad.

Most people don't want to carry a laptop around with them, they want a notepad that they can slip into a pocket/satchel like they can with the smartphone. This is very similar to a smartphone, but geared towards the notepad metaphore which is arguably more useable in that context than a smartphone (how do you take notes on a smartphone while you're talking to someone on the smartphone? I don't have a smartphone and I've always wondered how you would do that).

Personally I believe convergence to be a temporary phase while ubiquity gets up to speed. So eventually we'll have phones that are phones and MP3 players (both in the 'audio' category), and a separate device which does the rest of the stuff like diary and notepad (in the 'information' category) because I don't believe it's possible to design a convergent device which doesn't suffer some form of inefficiency in design for some context or another (can't please all of the functionality all of the time, so to speak).

Herbie

leeappdalecom
.nettter

In reply to Dr Herbie

#Sep 23rd @ 12:26 AM

No I make your right, but I think the iPhone is a good example of bringing stuff you want to do on the move into one device, but I'm not going to write an enterprise application using it thats what my laptops for.

I agree that some devices need to take stuff we do already and use technology to enhance it, for example my Sony e-book reader is a perfect example where technology has made things better, i.e. i dont have to carry heavy books to work and actually makes the reading experience better.

But this device well I already have the capability on my laptop to do everything and it doesn't seem small enough to warrant to taking my laptop instead? I see the uses I mean it woul dbe cool to carry a digital notebook around that for instance synced with OneNote but that's about it, maybe I'm missing the point and thats exactly what this device is for and only that.

stevo_
Human after all

Interesting, think I'll wait to see it in the flesh.

joechung

In reply to stevo_

#Sep 23rd @ 1:10 AM

Agreed. Also, how much is a device like this going to cost? It is an interesting concept though, no doubt!

giovanni
...

In reply to jamie

#Sep 22nd @ 10:53 PM

To be honest the iPhone has surely brought touch to a whole new level, but it was Microsoft that introduced it with tablets PCs many years before. Apple still has no touch screen or tablet pc equivalent!

algorith

In reply to Ray7

#Sep 22nd @ 11:31 PM

Good point. I'd need at least 6 hours for it to be useful, so that much I think is doable.

giovanni
...

In reply to leeappdalecom

#Sep 23rd @ 12:53 AM

I think this is interesting if syncs with a main pc is well done: I travel a lot for work and I always end up using pen and paper and my cellphone because I haven't been able to find a good tablet that is also a decent everyday machine. The ideal solution in my case would be to have a powerful desktop and a small tablet, but good tablets are expensive and have a very small screen (not to mention that synch does not always work as advertised). I personally would welcome something simpler and with a bigger screen than today's tablets.

Good concept, hopefully it will be ready in a short time.

Bas
It finds lightbulbs.

Awesome, but here's what past experience and my unreasonable cynicism tells me about this device:

- They'll mess up something basic. For instance, they'll require a subscription fee, or show an ad when you open the device. Or it'll charge with an inductive pad, but you'll need to completely switch it off or something before it'll charge. (Look at the first Zune, which was one of the first affordable WiFi MP3 players, except the WiFi was useless.)

- The UI will be nice but the software will be sub-par. Look at that bit where they drag a contact onto the map. Live Maps can't even find an address until I manually zoom in on the rough area where it's supposed to be. How is that ever going to find the addresses for my contacts?

- It'll be too expensive.

- It won't be out until Apple has seen it, has come up with something better, developed it and has been selling it with succes for half a year already. Gizmodo claims it's in the "late prototype" stage, and that they're still developing the UX. All I see in that video isa rendered concept. Plenty of time for Apple to move in and one-up them, again.

- It won't be available outside the US.

Really hard to get excited about Microsoft's stuff lately... We'll see.

Also, what the hell is "a kung fu eagle claw to Apple's tiger style" supposed to mean?

Ray7

In reply to leeappdalecom

#Sep 23rd @ 12:13 AM

leappdalecom said:
Looks very impressive but isn't this all stuff I can do with my laptop?

Yup, but often it comes down to how well it integrates with the way you work. There's nothing folk can cook in a microwave that can't be cooked in an oven, but it doesn't seem to stop retailers from selling microwaves, so I guess microwave ovens must fill some lifestyle requirement.

If it fits in with the way people like to work (how they'd use pen and paper if it could synchonised, stored and shared easily) rather than how they're forced to work (hunched over a screen, bashing away on a tiny keyboard, missing the important details of the lecture while they backspace that last sentence), then they could have a winner. It'll all come down to the UI I think.

Must go ... the jacket potato's done .... in 12 minutes, I might add.

Ray7

In reply to Bas

#Sep 23rd @ 2:52 AM

Sadly, I am forced to agree with you. Most of Microsoft's best ideas never make it out of the lab, or are priced way too high to make any real impact on the way we work.

Although I think it is a very exctiting concept, we are watching a demo.

When/if it ships, it'll probably be running WinMob 6.5 and so will disappear without a trace.

But it does the soul good to dream ... Smiley

magicalclick

Looks like they used Expression Sketch Flow. But it looks a bit different.

Dr Herbie
Horses for courses

In reply to Bas

#Sep 23rd @ 2:52 AM

As geeks we're all supposed to maintain the stereotype by watching dreadful 1970's Kung-Fu movies and know about 'eagle claw' and 'tiger style' as cultural references.

Herbie

giovanni
...

In reply to Ray7

#Sep 23rd @ 3:01 AM

True, especially thanks to Microsoft hability to work out specs with hardware manufacturers... IMO

Edited typo

blowdart
Peek-a-boo

In reply to giovanni

#Sep 23rd @ 3:12 AM

Well maybe the Win7 chasis spec is a start of an improved method of dealing with 3rd party vendors, but I doubt it. MS never stepped in when HTC had massive quality problems, because they couldn't afford to piss off their main WinMob manufacturer

Same problems exist with nVidia and ATI. We all know their drivers suck, but MS would never pressure for improvements

giovanni
...

In reply to blowdart

#Sep 23rd @ 3:40 AM

The result of not motivating (aka piss off) HTC was that the iPhone has a superior software AND hardware.

rhm

I thought this thread was going to be about typefaces. How disappointing, it's just a concept rendering that we all know Microsoft will never turn into a product. It couldn't be that they heard Apple are going to make a tablet and they want to sour expectations of that by pretending that they could make something even better could it?

Ray7

In reply to rhm

#Sep 23rd @ 5:03 AM

You were excited about a font thread?

stevo_
Human after all

Talking about apple, bet your bollocks now they release a .. whatever it is you call one of these things.. that basically rips off all the concepts shown.

Don't microsoft learn not to talk until something is ready? like the disaster of vista, even though nobody really cared that much- it sure enough lets all your competition know your ideas, so they could implement them cheaply and bring them to market before you and sit waiting to scream ... 'copy cats!'.

And lets be clear when I say, competition that cheaply rips off your ideas- I'm talking about apple.

rhm

In reply to stevo_

#Sep 23rd @ 6:16 AM

haha, good one Smiley