PDC + Mobile PC & Tablet PC + Windows Vista Part 1
Finally!! PDC has started, and I'm blogging from LA. There's exciting news for Mobile PCs and Tablet PCs being unveiled. In no specific order,
- mobility center
- Windows side show
- the touch pointer (requires special HID drivers though)
- personalization capabilities of handwriting recognition
- an improved/slicker Tablet PC Input Panel
- usability improvements in the Windows experience (checkboxes for multi-select, better multi-mon support, stylus specific cursor feedback)
- flicks - a new system level gesture to quickly go forward/back/scroll-up/scroll-down/and other common tasks
- better power management
- improved shutdown experience
- panning in Internet Explorer
- full integration of Tablet PC concepts into Windows Presentation Foundation
- a PDC CTP release of the Mobile PC & Tablet PC SDK for Windows Vista
- a PDC CTP COM version of the RealTimeStylus API
- a PDC CTP release of the Ink Analysis API set, and the underlying parsing technology
- and the list goes on ...
There are 5 hands on lab sessions (30 min training courses) being offered where we're letting our customers use some of our latest and greatest Tablet PCs (eg Toshiba M4, IBM Lenovo X41T, etc.). There's many sessions related to Mobile PCs & Tablet PCs! Today, we have sessions about Windows Side Show and advances in Tablet PC ink technologies.
There are huge investments related to Mobile PCs & Tablet PCs in Windows Vista - http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/tabletpc/pdc2005/default.aspx provides links to resources to get more information. One of the big changes in Windows Vista is that the Tablet PC platform ink runtimes (inkobj.dll, tpcps.dll, wisptis.exe, inked.dll, inkdiv.dll, Microsoft.Ink.dll for those of you tech enthusiasts:) ) will be in all Windows Vista packages. Ink will finally be a ubiquitous data type in Windows Vista.
We've had 2 on-the-side gatherings with customers, and so far the feedback is that
- we can accelerate the Tablet PC business with more reusable software components (eg controls) that would help in creation of innovative new scenarios & applications
- there are hard user interaction problems such as ink in text boxes where the eco-system can benefit from examples and recommendations from Microsoft
We are seeing great up-lift in sales, and the future for Mobile PC & Tablet PC looks bright!! I'll continue to blog feedback we're hearing so that we can open up the feedback discussion further beyond just the attendees at PDC. Stay tuned ...
Koji Kato - Platform Lead Program Manager - Tablet PC
