Tablet PC Update: The Wendy's Reaction
By Karl BarksdaleSpeaking Solutions © 2002
I was eating lunch at Wendy's, working on some lessons between bites on the Acer TravelMate 100. Suddenly, an entire family descended upon me screeching, "What is that?"
"A Tablet PC!" I said. Writing directly on the screen, I gave a demonstration of the tablet's handwriting features, then I showed how Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Microsoft's updated speech software works, and how the screen swivels...
"That is so cool!"
"I want one."
"Where can I get it?"
"That's awesome!"
The two "kids" were college-age and they validated my belief that the tablet PC is the greatest computer innovation in 20 years... and tablet PC computing is going to go gangbusters in education... did I say this before? Is there an echo in this restaurant?
The Wendy's reaction was the same spontaneous response I got from a half-dozen salespersons selling laptop/portables at CompUSA. Several said they won't buy another laptop -- a tablet will be their next mobile computer. And why not! With the TravelMate 100 you get all four major input technologies in one, ultra light, three-pound computer:
- Keyboard
- State-of-the-art handwriting recognition on the tablet's touch screen
- Speech recognition
- Mouse track pad
Tablet PC technology validates all of the speech and handwriting training we have been doing as Business educators during the past three years. We are on the right track changing the paradigm from "keyboarding" to "input technologies," also called "DigiTools" in some states. And it's full speed ahead!
Focus your attention on November 7, 2002 -- the official launch date of this new technology. This will be your first chance to preview the new Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition software. This operating system is a superset of Windows XP Professional. In other words, Microsoft started with Windows XP Professional and added the speech and handwriting capabilities and exciting new features like:
1. The accurate Writing Pad feature
2. The very cool new Journal utility
3. The new Tablet PC Input Panel
4. The new Speech control bar
5. Automatic switching from landscape to portrait modes (I absolutely love portrait mode.)
A year ago, Bill Gates prophesied that the Tablet PC would become the most popular form of PC sold in America by 2005. Mr. Gates is too conservative in his estimate. It won't take that long.
To learn more, review the article from last month's newsletter,TOP-NOTCH TABLET COMPUTING: The End of the Desktop PC?, at www.speakingsolutions.com/news.