Mike Elgan: Microsoft’s Tablet is “Pure Fantasy”
12:49 pm, September 24th, 2009, Leander Kahney
Tech columnist Mike Elgan comes out swinging against the Microsoft tablet concept, codenamed Courier. It’s pure fantasy, says Elgan, and will NEVER be built.
“… you’ll never own a Microsoft Courier device,” he writes in his latest column. “It’s not real now. It’s not going to be real in the future. And even Microsoft does eventually make it real, it will fail in the market and you won’t buy one.”
As Elgan points out, the “leaked” photos and video of the device are pure CGI; Hollywood-style special effects that look great as mockup photos and demo videos, but may not be possible to build.
“Everything is awesome when it doesn’t have to actually be manufactured, sourced or developed at an affordable cost,” he writes. “It’s special effects wizardry, not software or hardware design.”
In edition, Elgan notes that a pen-based tablet is doomed to failure. He calls Microsoft’s repeated attempts to force pen-based devices on the market “crazy,” citing Windows for Pens in the 1990s, pen-based Tablet PC and Ultra Mobile PC, and Windows Mobile devices with pens. “I don’t think pens have any role in mass-market devices of the future — certainly nothing that could compete with an iPhone-like Apple Tablet,” he says. We agree – pens are a throwback. The future of multitouch tablets and PCs are finger-controlled.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Opinions, Tablet | Comment on this article
Okay, this article may be right, about the MS Courier device not being real, but you need to check your facts- this is the second article on Cult of Mac, that references the device as being ‘pen-based.’ Have you even watched the video of this thing? It clearly demonstrates the device being used with BOTH touch gestures and a pen.
That is quite a different thing than a pen-based tablet pc.
A tablet that works with both touch and pen is clearly a whole different ball game than one that is “pen-based.” When touch is included, the pen becomes auxilliary and supplementary. Quite a different experience than a tablet-pc.
(The other aspect is of course the issue of how well the UI is designed- specifically for touch interaction.)
And when touch is laid as a foundation for interaction – or in other words lays on-screen interaction as the base- there will then arise a desire on the part of some to use a pen to write with on that screen- even if it isn’t a majority of the market- but at that point it seems likely that, once touch is made the primary way of interacting with a device it will make pen-based input a genuinely viable means for inputting into the device. I think the limitation with pen-based devices is that you can only interact via pen, which is not ideal for all or very many user activities – but is for a few. If it is an auxiliary means of input for handwriting, pressure-sensitive drawing, notes, etc. Then, it will be fine. The problem is when it is the only means of input – and this as a former tablet user, who switched to a Mac, and has been long waiting for the appropriate implementation of touch and pen in computing devices.
Logan, on September 24th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Microsoft should not build this. If they have the same success rate with this tablet as they do with reliable Xbox 360s … enough said, right?
Theo, on September 24th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
No tech in this preview is impossible, just to doo it smoothly you’ll need CPU powe and battery live that is really expensive right now.
I can do much of what this video shows now on my Linux driven hp tc4400 tablet. But battery life is only 2 he’s and his cost NZ$3000+ when new.
To do handwriing with low power you need something like palms grafitti. The best virtual keyboard and predictive text and touch UI I have used is on iPhone. Now If the application response is instant, the apps work well and battery life is 10 hrs hen this might make reality. Oh and less than $1000 please as I already have a PDA and I am not going to fully replace it with an A4 tablet.
John, on September 24th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
This is what’s known in the industry as a Design Concept. It’s a far-out (but usually not TOO far-out) idea for a product, rendered in as realistic a manner as possible, that is meant to attract positive attention to the company that commissioned it, hint at a new strategic direction, or even tease upcoming products that contain some of the ideas it highlights.
Apple used to do these all the time. The Knowledge Navigator video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5144094928842683632# is by far the most famous, and it directly led to the creation of the Apple Newton. Less ambitious concepts from Apple’s past include the rejected solutions for the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, which was itself a design concept that was actually put into production and shipped.
Steve Jobs hates concepts. He wants to spend time on products, not depict what the future might hold. That’s why Apple doesn’t make them anymore, at least not publicly. Intel loves concepts (as any component-maker should), Microsoft likes them OK, and Sony shuns them, too. As John notes, what’s depicted in the video isn’t necessarily difficult from a technology standpoint. But it also doesn’t mean this will be a product or was ever meant to be. It could easily be an exploration of interface possibilities that end up in a much less complex offering. Only time will tell.
Pete Mortensen, on September 24th, 2009 at 11:14 pm