I’m sitting here getting ready for Day 2 of the Windows Anywhere conference–a little tired, but very excited about how things are going.
Day 1 begain with a keynote from the .Net Platform group. I was pleasantly surprised by the mentions of Tablets in the presentations. Not only was the new HP TC4200 shown to the audience, more importantly during a demo of a real-estate app the presenter was using a Tablet….wirelessly….and yes…standing up. This is the first time I’ve seen someone actually use a Tablet as a Tablet in a keynote presentation. Way to go.
But mention of Tablets didn’t stop there. Agilix’s InfiNotes and then forthcoming Tablet PC Game SDK got the not too. Oh, and the real estate app I mentioned above, it had an inkable notes are too.
All of this is a good sign. It was a great way to illustrate the value of the Tablet PC to a couple thousand of your most enthusiastic and dedicated developers.
After the keynote I went down to the Microsoft booth to help out answering questions in the Tablet PC section. The booth has three pedestals with three to four Tablets each of all different types. The Tablets are wonderfully mounted on articulated arms so it’s easy to twist them around, rotate screens, and so on.
What was extremely surprising to me was the number of people that knew about Tablets, but yet still had never touched one. But don’t get discouraged. I also heard an equally large number of people saying that they were “Almost ready to buy a Tablet.” In many cases these are people that have made the transition at work to notebooks today. And they’re asking themselves, “Why do I carry around an 8+ pound notebook?” They’re realizing they want a more mobile experience. They want a “notebook” they can read on the couch. (Lots of people envision themselves reading on a Tablet now I found out.) Concerns about performance aren’t there like they used to be with the first gen machines. Price is still a concern, but people are considering the advantages they get with increased mobility for instance, for the extra cost they may incur.
I did have one person come up to me waving his finger demanding that he wouldn’t leave until he made sure I understood his one complaint. When he told me this I braced for an onslaught I figured I couldn’t handle. What was his problem? He wants “Instant On.” Whew. I was releaved. I couldn’t agree more. Of course, I have no pull in any of this, but I agree 100%. I want to be able to pick up the pen and start writing on the Tablet quickly–just like with paper.
His problem is compounded by the fact that he owns a first-gen Tablet. His boot time is close to three minutes. I showed him how I use hibernate mode with my Tablet to mitigate the problem. My Toshiba comes up in about 10+ seconds or so. He was all excited. He didn’t know about this feature. So he pulled out his Tablet and I helped him set up his well-used convertible so that when he closes the lid his computer saves its current state to the harddrive and fully shuts off and when he opens the lid the machine restores itself to where he left off. Now his “boot” time is a little more than 30 seconds. He was very happy.
After my booth time I met up with Inspherion Learning and Heuristix and got two excellent demos about their education solutions. Heuristixs has a couple large deployments in Singapore and is growing rapidly in the region. Inspherion is likewise working with several US schools and is getting lots of enthusiastic feedback. I’m running late so right now so I’ll post later about how this went.
However, before I go, one more thing. After a full day of talking Tablets, Lora, Tom Clarkson (OrangeGuava), Buzz Burggeman (ActiveWords) and Rob Bushway stopped by a 50’s style diner to get a quick bite to eat. Actually, we wound up talking more and Buzz had some great stories and marketing ideas. He’s a fountain of energy.
Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel and met joined up with Josh Einstein (of TEO2 fame) and Trevor (Tablet PC MVP). Unfortunately Lora and I had work to do, so we called it a night and the rest of the crew went off to get a drink.
Anyway, now I’m really late, so I gotta run. I’ll try to post the images I’ve been taking later today.
Great report Loren! Wish I was there with all my tablet buddies.
I don’t know if other Tablets include as configurable a tool as the Toshiba Energy Saver but it is great for the “Instant On” capability. I have it set so that when I slide the power button or close the lid, the M200 goes into Standby. After a preset time, it then goes into Hibernation. I have to different profiles set up (you can have different settings saved under a number of profiles and switch them with a tap of the pen).
My day-to-day profile switches from Standby to Hibernate after an hour. My “Max Power Savings” profile makes the switch after 15 minutes – enough time to get from a meeting back to my office or from one conference session to another.
The big win from this is that I get “instant on” in about 5-7 seconds most of the time (waking from Standby and 30 seconds pretty much all the time (even if I fall into Hibernation).
When I’m
Likewise.. I use Standby mode all the time at work.. The quick start up and then switch to standby by using a simple application/icon works great. (Soft shutdown helps save use of the Power Switch !)
The added advantage being that I don’t have to carry power supply around while at work, as just switching on when required, can give me a whole day at work without recharge.