Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

A day or so after Steve Jobs announced the iPad, Microsoft announced their Courier product, a Windows 7-based (allegedly) device with two touch/pen screens that opened like a book. It struck me as a knee-jerk reaction announcement ("My god, Apple's got something amazing coming out, we have to announce SOMETHING!") and not likely to see the light of day. Well, apparently Ballmer et al has officially killed it.

http://gizmodo.com/5527442/microsoft-cancels-innovative-courier-tablet-project

Likewise, at the CES show in January, HP & Ballmer unveiled a tablet device running Windows 7. Now, "...source tells us that HP is not satisfied with Windows 7 as a tablet operating system and has terminated the project." Among other things, HP is not happy with battery life of having to cram Win7 and an Intel CPU into the case and will be considering going with Palm's WebOS for their slate computer.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/hewlett-packard-to-kill-windows-7-tablet-project/

In case you hadn't heard, Hewlett-Packard bought out Palm. Palm was on the verge of death, and a buyout was their only hope of survival. I would have liked to have seen them die, because they abandoned product quality and good user support a long time ago. But I guess HP saw value in their patent portfolio and thought a billion dollars was worth it.

Personally, I could care less. Personally, (RPN calculators excluded), HP = don't like. Compaq = don't like. Palm = really don't like. HP + Compaq = LOL. HP + Compaq + Palm = ROFLMAO WTF FTL. HP and Compaq servers are OK, as are their departmental laser printers, but I can't stand their desktop computers and printers. One outfit I worked for spent thousands of dollars getting our techs trained and certified to repair HP printers and scanners, then HP turned around and stopped selling parts kits.

I've never liked HP or Compaq laptops, and my experiences with their desktop computers have never been good. And don't get me started on people who bought a Packard Bell and thought they had a Hewlett Packard!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/28/hp-buys-palm/


My Prediction: Here's where I think the market for slate computers will be a year+ down the road. You'll have the iPad and you'll have Android-based slates, both will do fairly well. Microsoft (and partners) will try to get slate units out based on the Windows Mobile platform, but I think Apple and Google will eat their lunch. It's a basic problem with operating systems: the iPad's OS-X and Google's Android are designed to run on minimal CPU and power loads, Windows 7 is not. Microsoft's Mobile platform is, but I have a feeling it's going to be quite an aggravating experience when they try to strap on tablet features to it. Given 5 years, MS might have a good slate, but I won't wait for it.