Re: [NTLK] my comments to a TabletPC review

From: Bret Feinblatt (bafein_at_mac.com)
Date: Sun Jan 25 2004 - 07:34:10 PST


On Saturday, January 24, 2004, at 10:21 PM, alanshaw_at_comcast.net wrote:
> A friend showed me a loaner TabletPC his company got from Gateway. The
> coolest thing I found was that the screen wasn't touch sensitive and
> only responded to the stylus. That allows you to rest your hand on the
> screen, which is very large.
Actually, I like the ability to tap something on my Newton with my
fingernail. The casual, flip-of-the-finger selection is a nice touch
(so to speak). I don't like the idea of having to have a specific
instrument to use a tablet. Ten to one that Apple would do it better.
(C'mon, Steve, get over it - Scully's been out of the picture for
years, give us a new Newton)

> But that was the best thing. I found that the interface just wasn't
> user-friendly. I kept trying to use it like a Newton and my friend
> (who also has a Newton) kept saying "you can't do it that way." Like
> highlighting stuff and tapping and dragging. That doesn't work. To
> copy something you have to select it, then go to the File menu, select
> copy, etc. Just like with a mouse! Didn't Microsoft read the Newton
> APIs? MS seems to have

This should come as no surprise, given the shoddy job they've done with
the Pocket PC. One space for upper-case letters, one for lower-case,
and one for numbers. Only slightly better than Palm's idea of making
people learn Anglo-Glyphics (as I like to call it) to write. I was in a
meeting with some customers once, taking notes in my Newton at lighting
speed, and one of the guys said, amazed, "Are you writing that fast in
Graffiti?" With no small amount of pride, I said, "No, this is an Apple
Newton - it understands English."

Very satisfying moment.

> taken minimal effort to make Windows work with a stylus. Way too
> complicated. It's still geared toward a mouse. Hopefully they'll
> learn. Of course, those MS haters out there hope that doesn't happen.

Amazing. Microsoft lived on text-based DOS for so long, then moved to a
mouse-based GUI. Now they can't move beyond it.

Actually, that's not so amazing.

--
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried. 
-Murphy
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