Re: [NTLK] No iNewton announced today

Hi Phil,

On Wednesday, September 09, 2009, at 09:53PM, "Phil Muller" <wndrstrck@gmail.com> wrote:
> In my 25 years working with computers I have yet to meet any
>animator, graphic designer, programmer, designer, etcetera who owns a tablet
>as their main input device, myself included.

Five years ago, I could have agreed with you, at least regarding not knowing anyone who uses a tablet as their main input device.

But then I met a football coach around 4 years ago, and found that not only was his entire team moving to tablet PCs, almost all of the NFL teams were. And the smaller universities were as well. I wrote some software for him to help him animate plays, and now he's selling that in his spare time, and he often sells tablet PCs along with it.

And then I started working for NewTek around 3 years ago, where we had some of the most creative graphic artists I've ever met. I worked in the 3D group on LightWave and its sibling products, and I'd estimate that 1/3 of the users I met and talked to were using a pen input as their main input device. Of the Photoshop users I've met, I'd say at least 3/4 own a tablet, but most don't use it for their main input device because the other software isn' t made for it. And the Cintiq's increasing sales point to this as being a lucrative demographic as well. Of the 3D artists I met there, all of those who used a Cintiq said it stood head and shoulders above using a mouse. And among those Cintiq users, those who also used a laptop were all using tablet PCs.

So I definitely couldn't agree with this today. I'd say that among professional graphic artists, and especially 3D artists, tools like ZBrush, 3D Coat, and Mudbox have completely changed the game. The Pen as an input device is king, at least inside those apps. The problem (which I set about addressing in Conjure 3) was that the OS side was not designed for the tablet. So going from cozy 3D app to Photoshop and back, if you had to touch the file system at all, was like getting out of one hot whirlpool and walking across a cold room to get into another hot whirlpool. You really like the whirlpools, but the commute is a bitch.

At the hospitals I've been in most recently, I have not seen a single laptop in use. Every computer is now either a tablet PC or a stationary system.

The graphic artist community would kill for a Tablet Mac. And the medical community would, and I know a lot of coaches who would as well. And they all have money. That's three different demographics, but Apple's going to have to really differentiate themselves on this one, and I'm not sure a touch screen tablet would grab the market like a stylus based one. That's my only concern.

-Chilton

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Received on Thu Sep 10 05:30:34 2009