Tablet PC Team Blog : Talks

Mobile Connections (Las Vegas) and TechEd (Barcelona) - November 6-10

Tablet PC Team — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 21:31:00 GMT

Ok, it's been a few months since our last post here. Yes, we're still alive. What are we up to?

#1: Putting finishing touches on Windows Vista. Testing, testing, testing...

#2: Planning for the next generation of Tablet and UMPC hardware and software. It's fun and exciting, believe me, but we can't blog about it. :-)

#3: Preparing for a couple of big conferences, next week: Mobile Connections (in Las Vegas) and TechEd Europe (in Barcelona). Now that, we really should be blogging about...! Details below.

I'll try to nag the team to post more -- I promise. :-) In the meantime, remember Tablet PC features are built into Windows Vista now -- and the Windows Vista team blog shouldn't leave anyone hungry for more to read!

Shawn Van Ness | Program Manager | Tablet PC Platform, NetFX 3.0 Team

Mobile Connections - November 6-9
Mobile PC Sessions

Mobile Connections, part of DevConnections Conferences and Expos, will be bringing you the latest in enterprise mobility development technologies that are ready for prime time today.

November 7, 2006 (Microsoft Day)
Mobile PC Hands-on Lab and Demo Area OPEN: 7:30 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
  • Using Ink in Your Application 9:30 A.M. - 10:30 A.M. (Stefan Wick)
  • Mobile Lifestyle PC Applications 10:45 A.M. - 11:45 A.M. (Todd Landstad)
  • Developing for the Ultra-Mobile PC 1:30 P.M.- 2:30 P.M. (Todd Landstad)
  • Mobile PC Opportunities with Content Servers and Carriers 2:45 P.M.- 3:45 P.M.
   (Frank Gocinski)
  • Ink and the Microsoft® Windows® Presentation Foundation 4:15 P.M.- 5:15 P.M.
(Stefan Wick)
November 8, 2006
Mobile PC Hands-on Lab and Demo Area OPEN: 7:30 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
November 9, 2006
Mobile PC Hands-on Lab and Demo Area OPEN: 7:30 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.

View Mobile Connections sessions here.
Register for Mobile Connections.

TechEd Europe - November 6-10
Mobile PC Sessions

TechEd: Developers Conference, Barcelona, November 6-10

Sign up for Microsoft’s premier EMEA conference. This TechEd conference is specifically designed to provide developers with deep dive technical training, information, and community resources focusing on building software solutions with Microsoft development tools.

SESSIONS:
November 7, 2006
4924: Using Ink in Your Application (Shawn Van Ness)
4925: Ink and the Windows Presentation Foundation (Shawn Van Ness)
November 8, 2006
4928: Using Windows SideShow® (Dan Polivy)
4929: Developing for Full OS Small Form Factors (Shawn Van Ness)
4930: The Mobile PC Roadmap (Hans Baust)

Tablet PC session after a key note ... no way? - Part I

Tablet PC Team — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:21:00 GMT

Thanks for Lora mentioning that's there's been a blank in this blog :)

Random topic - I'm off to Japan next week to attend http://www.event-registration.jp/events/devcon06/ - it's like a mini PDC in Japan.

We've got a session immediately after the keynote on the 2nd day, where I'll be explaining how Tablet PC business is in the US (primarily), and then explaining the advancements in Windows Vista - touch support, COM Real Time Stylus, 64 bit, how Tablet PC technologies are integrated into all Windows Vista products, integration into Windows Presentation Foundation, ink analysis, Tablet PC Input Panel APIs, etc.

My parents live nearby the location - Yokohama, so I have the added benefit of dropping by :) I'll report back on how Tablet PC is doing in Japan as Part II.

Koji Kato - Platform Lead Program Manager - Tablet PC

PDC + Mobile PC & Tablet PC + Windows Vista Part 2

Tablet PC Team — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 22:38:00 GMT

Finally!! PDC is over, and I've caught up with the back log of work that piled while I was at PDC. Our PDC was great!

Our Hands On Labs (HOLs) were consistently full, we depleted our supply of digitizers/USB-drives/TMobile cards in the process since it was so popular
Our sessions went well too, lots of folks turned up to listen to Mobile PC & Tablet PC related sessions although it was past 17:00
Birds of a feather meetings - lots of candid and honest exchange of opinions which are always insightful for us attending from the Microsoft side
I personally talked with about 100 folks from different companies, although I was only able to keep track of about 40 of them

I am confident that we've rid the speculation that Microsoft is not investing in Mobile PC & Tablet PCs any more ... on the contrary we are ACCELERATING in Vista and beyond. It is a ripe market with a lot of upsell potential. The sky is the limit on the benefit it can have on me as a casual user of PCs. I am really looking forward to the coming year, lots of innovative hardware and great advances in software is coming.

http://spaces.msn.com/members/michaellatta/Blog/cns!1p_9Q1UgKXcCjgsYODghdXCQ!160.entry is an example of feedback we're already starting to get ... please keep them coming as we're keen on listening to your thoughts.

Additionally, we're really interested to hear your thoughts on the takeaways we had at the Birds of a feather meetings.

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're starting to brain storm and take action against this feedback - your thoughts would be appreciated to further direct us on our way.

Koji Kato - Platform Lead Program Manager - Tablet PC

PDC + Mobile PC & Tablet PC + Windows Vista Part 1

Tablet PC Team — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 17:03:00 GMT

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

PDC session: Developing Power-Aware Applications

Tablet PC Team — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 01:31:00 GMT

Hi all,

It's critically important that developers take advantage of the power-awareness that will be built into Vista, since we've already hit the inflection point where mobile PC sales have overtaken desktop PC sales. Improving battery chemistry is one way of extending battery life - optimizing power use by writing smarter apps is another.

As users of mobile PCs, we want (and need) every microvolt of juice available to extend our battery life - developing power-aware apps is another tool in our toolbox.

--Hilton

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FUN319: “Windows Vista: Developing Power-Aware Applications”

Hands-On Lab: Mobile PC – Power Management for Windows Vista (C#)

Description:

Industry forecasts predict that up to 67% of workforce computers will be mobile PCs. In addition, desktop PCs running Windows Vista will also use CPU power management to help enterprises save millions of dollars per year in energy costs. Your customers will therefore demand that you optimize your applications for power awareness. Discover the updates to the power APIs, the new sleep/wake states, and other improvements in Windows Vista that can to make your application the premier in its class. We cover best practices for power management, including how to integrate your application with system power policy and behaviors. We also show you how to register for and properly respond to common power management events, such as monitor on/off and user presence.

There are no “miracles cures” on horizon for the issue of battery life. Fuel cells, although an exciting technology, are probably 5+ years away. Looks like it is up to the platform to extend battery life. Intel has been active in evangelizing power management techniques. Microsoft is investing in engineering efforts around power management in Longhorn. Application developers should take the cue and start optimizing their own code in terms of power consumption. Want to find out how? PDC session FUN319.

Intel content: http://www.intel.com/cd/ids/developer/asmo-na/eng/dc/centrino/power/index.htm

PDC 2005: http://commnet.microsoftpdc.com/content/sessions.aspx

Don't miss the next Mobile Development webcast

Tablet PC Team — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 03:05:00 GMT

Webcast: Basic Considerations for Mobile PC Application Development - Aug. 11, 11a.m. PT
This session will help you become familiar with the core set of considerations for writing a great Mobile PC application: power management, network awareness, display awareness, and activity awareness. Also, check out what's coming up next in our Tablet/Mobile PC webcast series.