Windows Vista Feb 2006 CTP Rocks on Tablet PC!
When we first started this blog, last summer, Beta 1 of Windows Vista had just become available. Looking back, it seems we had to make a lot of noise about how to get Windows Vista bits working on Tablet PC. Wow, what a difference a Beta makes!
Actually, we're still some time away from a formal "Beta 2" release, but I feel somebody should report on our progress… we released a new CTP a few weeks ago (Feb 2006) which is a snapshot of our Beta 2 work -- available for download by MSDN Subscribers -- and if I may say so, the overall experience on my Tablet PC is really quite nice.
For starters, everything's there -- the cool new Input Panel, which docks to the side of the screen. Pen Flicks (which greatly mitigates the pain of using a scrollbar with a stylus). Journal and InkBall are there. Ink Watson and Handwriting Personalization. Support for Network Projection. And there's Mobility Center, a one-stop-shop for managing power settings and sync'ing files. Also, a special surprise -- a lightweight version of the Snipping Tool powertoy is now included and installed by default, on Windows Vista! (Just start/run "SnippingTool", and have at it!)
Well, almost everything's there -- we're still missing a complete driver story, for all makes and models. And I don't get Aero Glass effects on my Toshiba M200. And screen rotation still isn't ironed out. These things will come, in time. But for the most part, all the critical drivers (display, networking, etc) for my M200 were installed and working just fine, when my system emerged from setup. (If you tried earlier CTPs but were put off by the difficulty of finding/installing drivers, try the Feb 2006 build. No guarantees, but you're likely to be pleasantly surprised -- I was!)
Perhaps what's most amazing, is this: I now no longer feel the need to revert to Windows XP, to get work done from day to day. In fact, I just "took the plunge" and removed XP from my Toshiba M200 -- Windows Vista Feb 2006 CTP is now my OS of choice! Office 2003 works great. Visual Studio 2005 works great. All my favorite games work great...
The performance of the Feb CTP build is not perfect, but it's leaps and bounds ahead of where it was, in previous CTPs. True, there are still some bad actors (the disk defragger and search indexer services like to run, when I'm on battery :-). But overall, the system is very usable -- and perf will continue to improve, as we march onward to the next Beta, and beyond...
Update: I forgot to mention a few features: Windows SideShow (not to be confused with Windows SideBar, which is something else) is a cool new technology in Vista. Not strictly Tablet-specific, but it's cool. Follow the link for more info, and cool demos!
Also, I left out one of my favorite new features: the enhanced stylus cursor feedback. (The pointer changes when you use a stylus, in lieu of a mouse, and it's animated to provide subtle feedback when you tap, or press the barrel button.)
Shawn V
an Ness | Program Manager | Tablet PC Platform, WinFX Team
