Re: 15 million tablets; What might Microsoft do?

Aug 212011

Motion LE1600

I posted a response to Rob Bushway’s post: 15 million tablets; What might Microsoft do? I vented a bit of my frustration with how Microsoft has totally blown their leadership position in the tablet industry and I figured I would re-post it here.

Here’s the closing statement on the original post:

Is it possible that Microsoft might finally bite the bullet and seriously undertake the overhaul of Windows’ and Office’s tablet features that we’ve all been begging for? Incorporate the Intel shell software that allows iPad-like responsiveness? Pair this with a properly-designed hardware platform that complements the new software features? In short, is it possible that this order might cause Microsoft to finally, seriously, design the tablet that they’ve always talked about? I think the possibilities here might be huge, but only time will tell.

What do you think..???

I think it’s a lost cause for them. The blew the tablet opportunity. They couldn’t get on the same page. They couldn’t even sell the concept internally. Apple came along and wiped the floor with them right out of the gate by doing what we all told them they had to do years ago – build an OS and apps with the tablet form factor in mind from birth.

The whole running on top of Windows thing was a good option back in the early days when there would have been no tablet apps. But they never led the charge with tablet-specific apps the way Apple did. They couldn’t rally developers because those developers would go broke trying to prop up a system Microsoft couldn’t even unite behind.

Finally, Apple has proven that when it comes to hardware, choice sucks. The old model of shipping an OS to a variety of OEM’s is simply a losing model. The OEM’s have no interest in the long term success of Microsoft’s tablet strategy. They just want to make payroll in an industry with razor-thin margins and in doing so they crap up every machine they make and skimp on parts and materials. (I’m giving Motion Computing a pass here, their LE1600 was a thing of beauty.)

In order for Microsoft to get people to pay attention to their tablets, there needs to be a reason for me to put down my iPad for a second and take notice. At this point, the damned thing would have to make me breakfast for me to even consider it.

Windows tablets with external monitors

Oct 212010

Windows Tablet

It’s been a while since I used a Windows Tablet PC with an external monitor. One thing that used to drive me nuts (I think as recently as Vista) was the fact that if you set the external monitor as your “main” display, the pen would all of a sudden control the cursor on the external monitor, not the tablet display.

No longer! I just plugged in an external monitor and the pen still controls the tablet display. But it gets better.

My HP 2710P tablet has a very odd shaped hinge. So it doesn’t fit very well into the tablet stand I have. It fits much better when the side opposite the hinge is facing down into the stand. This requires me to change the screen orientation 180 degrees (upside down.)

Before, in XP (and I’m pretty sure Vista too) this would also change the orientation of the external monitor! But now the two have separate orientations.

In other words, Windows 7 Tablet with an external monitor is working exactly the way I expect and want. So while some people (cough… Rob… cough…) may think Windows 7 sucks on a tablet1, I’d still take a Windows 7 tablet over an iPad any day!

  1. Granted, Rob is referring to touch capabilities in Windows, where I am primarily a pen-based tablet user. ↩

Love OneNote 2007! But not an Outlook Journal replacement.

Sep 242006

Don’t be surprised to hear me say I love OneNote 2007. I was never a big fan of OneNote 2003 because of the fact that ink felt like an afterthought. But I am really digging 2007. Great improvements and it looks and feels a lot more polished.

I never really saw TEO and OneNote as competitors although sometimes the way you see it isn’t the way things really are. You see, people have a finite amount of money they’re willing to spend on their Tablet PC and accessories and they have a finite number of uses for it. Some people may find OneNote to be a suitable organizer for them and some may insist on keeping their stuff in Outlook. In this way, they are competitors.

However, I see it another way. I use TEO and Outlook for things like calendar, tasks, contacts, etc which is what it was designed for. I take basic notes attached to the Outlook item itself because it’s easier to find this way and one less step. I also like more structured notes when I’m logging a phone call or meeting. TEO and Outlook Journal give me that.

But where OneNote really shines is when I use it as a bucket for information scraps that could come from anywhere. I’ve been reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done and he emphasizes getting your obligations out of your head and into a system. OneNote works very well for that and new in 2007, it makes it much easier to go from an unstructured note on a page to a tracked Outlook task. Another utility that is indispensible when using OneNote is SnagIt because both the virtual printer and the Send To OneNote IE plugin produce horrible looking pages, IMHO. But SnagIt is always at the top of just about every software workflow I have.

For longer-term projects, Outlook falls apart. But OneNote lets me keep a section called Jobs for example where I can throw any interesting job opportunities (yeah, more on that later). I have a section called Houses where I am storing information that I come across related to buying a new house, getting a mortgage, property taxes in North Carolina, etc. This would all be very difficult to keep organized in Outlook because it is so unstructured. If I have a specific “to-do“, that gets tracked in Outlook, not OneNote. But OneNote is great for those “maybe somedays“ or brainstorms.

So I definitely see TEO and OneNote as complementary. TEO will never be as full featured for general purpose note-taking as OneNote, but OneNote will never be as structured and organized as Outlook.

Spam on Handango Sucks

Sep 052006

This is driving me nuts. TEO, while still relatively new on Handango, would be on the front page when sorted by Best Selling if it wasn’t for a bunch of off-topic and obviously “spam” listings that have bumped it off the first page. (52 nice fonts, betting exchange ebook trading method, language learning, web site conversion secrets, etc…)

I have a feeling whoever is selling these listings (such as “web site conversion secrets”) is buying his own stuff in order to maintain a best seller status. Can something be done about this? It’s dilluting the worth of Handango’s Tablet PC software listing.

SNAG-20060905-191356

Oh yeah, I support my software!

Jul 232006

With all the great posts I’ve seen around TEO 3.0, I was a little surprised (pleasantly) to see Rick Segal center his post around my customer support. I’m glad that it’s noticed because I do try really hard to have a good relationship with my customers and provide one-on-one support.

By the way, I am looking for a new remote desktop solution to allow me to remote into customer PC’s. Any suggestions? I have been using FogCreek’s CoPilot but in the last few weeks it can barely hold a connection, doesn’t play nicely with Windows OneCare, and now it’s crashing every time I try to connect (even on a completely different machine) so I think I need to find an alternative.

Update: I was contacted directly by FogCreek tech support through my blog. That’s good customer service! Anyhow, Tyler, the rep, acknowledged the disconnect problem was on their end which have been fixed. As for other stuff, well I was so impressed that I’m sticking with CoPilot and deal with it while they improve the interaction with OneCare.

Apply directly to the forehead!

Jul 212006

Apply directly to the forehead!

TEO 3.0 Released!

Jul 202006

It’s really here! Tablet Enhancements for Outlook 3.0 is released and available for purchase.

I know I didn’t get a chance to post about it on my blog yesterday because I kinda did an “extended launch”. Basically I released the product before the web site was completely done. Why? Well for one, the software is long overdue anyway and since the code was done, didn’t see any reason to hold it up any longer. Second of all, by putting out the software ahead of time, it would put enormous pressure on me (and the people that developed the AWESOME new web site) to get everything done.

There’s still a lot of content to add to the site, but for now, all of the features are accounted for, the download page is working, and the purchase page is working. There is also a new support community linked from the new site that gradually I will be moving over to. I will probably redirect JoshEinstein.com there as well. The new forum will be hosted there and I will have all sorts of tips for using TEO and other info. You really should check it out.

Not 5 minutes after I released TEO 3.0, GottaBeMobile.com was on the ball with some excellent announcements. These guys are really dedicated to what they do and it is hands down the best place on the web for Tablet PC content. I am really proud of what they accomplished, stepping up to the plate and picking up where others have left off.

Warner Crocker, one of my oldest (and I don’t mean recently turning 50!) and best customers interviewed me right before the release and a few days later, posted an Ink Show demo of TEO 3.0. The audio is a little low on the interview but after all the technical difficulties we had trying to get the thing recorded, I’m not too concerned about it. :)

So now we wait. I’ll send out the upgrade emails to existing customers probably this weekend. I really hope this product sells well because it’s been in development for so long and I’ve really gambled on it. I still believe I’ve got a great product on my hands, I just have to find the right way to make it take off.

SNAG-20060720_223004

Second place just means you’re the best loser

Jul 202006

Okay so I didn’t win the Student Tablet PC‘s banner contest. I am a little bummed because I worked on this amazing piece of art for a month. But the winner looks great! Looking forward to the new site!

StudentTabletPC

Now I know how Nicole Miller feels

May 262006

Wow what a blatant rip off of TEO’s mapping feature. Even the UI is nearly identical. In a rare misstep though, Microsoft really made this look ugly. That’s not typical of a Microsoft product but this is an ugly rip-off of TEO’s mapping capability. I’m not too thrilled right now. I’d much rather they bought mine. Oh well, guess I just have to raise the bar. (And stop making my betas so accessible… I think I know who may have "borrowed" this idea from me.)

This isn’t the first time one of my great ideas wound up in a Microsoft product without any credit to me. Those of you too new to the Tablet PC platform to remember pre-SP2 that I actually created the first in-place floating TIP icon that worked with the SP1 input panel. A few months later, this feature appeared in the “Lonestar” alpha.

The lesson learned here is always apply for patents.

UPDATE: As my friend, Andre just pointed out, they even stole my acronym! The installer is called LEO_Setup.exe!!! Live Enhancements for Outlook? Location Enhancements for Outlook? I am pissed.

Microsoft's Add-In


My Add-In

Ultramobile PC? Why not Origami?

Mar 092006

Here’s an interesting question. With all the criticism Microsoft is always taking for their arcane, overly descriptive, hard to market names (instead of something simple like Tablet Enhancements for Outlook :-), why would they decide to call the new ultramobile pc’s by that name instead of the code name which as we all know was “Origami”?

Apple is always praised for its use of simple product names and marketing which as it turns out, is pretty successful. I’m not an Apple fan by any stretch of the imagination. But what sounds cooler, “iPod” or “Microsoft Portable Media Center”?

But here’s the real kicker. By using an overly broad term like Ultramobile PC, we wind up with exactly the same problem that arose when Microsoft stole the general term “smart phone” and turned it into “Microsoft SmartPhone”. And to a certain extent, the same with Tablet PC (although there really wasn’t much going on in this space anyway).

So now as a consumer, what’s an Ultramobile PC? Is a LS800 or OQO? Well according to Microsoft, no. But according to the rest of the world, absofuckinglutely. And they’ve been ultramobile pc’s for a much longer time. But are they “Origamis”? Nope. Anyway, I like Origami better than UMPC (Wonder how many people are going to mess up the order of those letters in a Google search.)

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