The basic pen-based concept of a Tablet PC isn’t new. Such concepts have come and gone, with the exception of those seen in PDAs. So what gave Microsoft the confidence to succeed where other players have faltered? With the new Acer TravelMate C100 Tablet PC, HardwareZone takes a look at the fundamentals as well as the operating system behind the Tablet PC. A very intersting article with many screenshots, especially pages 2 and 3 (showing the Windows XP TabletPC Edition).
The New Age Of The Tablet PC
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I seem to remember a certain company that wanted to Be and BEcame … they shifted to something they called Beia which fell through…
they had webpads/tablets and they were.. impressive to say the least.
id like to see this concept lift off so i will go investigating the possibilities of getting myself one.
and i could probably get that beos os working on this
Good post Eugenia
> Your reason for moded down: Reduntant/flamebait
It _was_ meant to be redundant, to show the article was right on that part.
Not mean to troll, now if I wanted to troll, I’d say we all know M$ has enough money to make it a success where others failed.
This thing isn’t new either, I recall from an old IBM thinkpad which had the (touch !)screen you could turn so it becomes a tabled… this one was a 486 DX
Though it’s a shame IMHO this concept never went pushed further, I kinda liked it. Maybe we will get nice hardware now
(at the same period IBM also had a model with a ‘transparent’ screen you could put on retroprojectors
i want to remember that ms proposed the tablet pc concept at the same time as that beia/audrey thing.
also transmeta had some take on this a few year ago didnt they?
Looks clunky, works clunky, is clunky!
The OS may very well have some nice features but the over all device is just plain clunky!
I ain’t buying one, and I’ll bet others will not buy’em either!
ciao
yc
I really wonder about Transmeta… I think it’s a market they should go in ASAP… but I didn’t heard any news from them since long ago. 🙁
(Anyway technically tablets are just notebooks with a
pivotable LD touchscreen).
Also to make the comparison, let’s say M$ already did some “experiments” with handwriting recognition, with “Windows for Pen Computing”, a.k.a. PenWin, which was an addon to windows 3.1 (there even was a test version with a driver using the mouse =). You could hand write in any application, and it would try to recognize it and convert it to keystrokes and simulate keyboard events.
Now as I read on another article, M$ took another way, which is not to translate it, but let it stay as hand strokes.
This has some advantages, but also the drawback of needing special support from apps (with PenWin any apps that used text fields was pen-aware, even some DOS box support maybe :^)
its really nice to see ms doing some down and dirty r&d into that area since i believe
it could be done better, i really dont have any ideas onhow but really its nice to see..
transmeta probably has something up their sleeve ;P
I want one and I want it now. I’ve been waiting for such a thing for a while, the closest things like the honeywell webpad just didn’t come through. This thing is nice. I wish Be had suceeded with BeIA but thats in the past. Also it has some nice little apps. Now if the thing costed less like alot less. Thats the big web pad problem, they are to expensive, they need to be cheaper than laptops, cause well i’m not looking for one to be a lab top, it’s just a protable computing platform. The main thing is the screen, i don’t need mega power and such. Well maybe in a few more years.
As many of you have mentioned the tablet PC sure looks like an answer to the web tablet internet appliance. My belief is that XP’s new “easy to use” interface and its quick boot time are also evidence of MS reacting to the threat from IAs.
Wow competition really does work. It really is great thing to have. That said, i can’t see too many people buying and using one of those PC tablets except maybe some field technicians.
However, i sure hope palm starts pushing mobile computing with some laptops or mini-laptops to put some real heat on MS. Palm could do so well in mobile computing with its small profile and use of ARM. Of course that assumes that OS 6 will be around and up to the task.
how can you say this is clunky? it is not even released yet.
I can say that it will be a niche product, however, those who need this will love it. and heck, think about the new need for inovative interfaces to programs…..I just hope that MS has reay good hand writing recognition software.
… is in the http://www.pacebook.com . I’ve played with one and it’s just not fast enough.
It’s REALLY cool, but there’s a ‘squishyness’ to the performance that is difficult to describe, but definitely hurts the overall impression of the product and specifically the transmeta CPU.
My wife and i have a Sony Pen Tablet system. It’s a really cool PC – huge hard drive (especially for its time), all those Sony multimedia apps, Adobe apps, etc. It has a very small footprint, but plenty of USB, Firewire, PC Card and Memory Stick slots. Well, there are only a few apps you can really use it with. Also, the monitor is a gorgeous flat panel with built-in Harman-Kardan speakers (and more ports), but is very awkward to position for drawing, unless you have a set up where you can put it on your lap. It was 1 GHz PIII with a max of 512 RAM. Sony discontinued it recently due to lack of sales. Hmmm.
The article points out some interesting things of merit – namely, how do you manipulate a PC with a pen? Tablet PC functionality goes far beyond OCR software, and is more than a large PDA or halved notebook computer. Its a separate interface altogether and means that different types of information can be passed between users. Plus, I think that by branching all of these projects from the XP base is really smart (XP – Home, Professional, Tablet, Freestyle) – rather than maintaining completely separate trees (NT, Win98, etc.). It’ll allow developers to build for all of these products at once. Wonder if this is what they meant when they said they will “outsmart” Linux – which seems to be segregating more each day.
I’m very happy MS choosed the XP path instead of an other WinCE/PocketPC flavor. It will feel like a real portable workstation, and it’s exactly what I’m searching for : smaller than a laptop, bigger than handheld, and most of all : an excellent OS.
I think and hope where other people failed, MS will succeed, as I believe there’s a good niche for that kind of tool.
As a big BeOS lover, I wasn’t even intersted to the BeIA product. I mean I don’t care an OS doesn’t have a lot of software if it’s a secondary one on my PC. But paying a lot of money for a specific, closed computer, I still prefere going with a broadband OS.
Don’t believe the hype!
wince –> pocketpc –> tablet pc
Having used an iPaq device, I’m skeptical. So, microsoft comes up with a spec that is somewhere in between the PDA and the notebook. Essentially still trying to graft the Win32 interface onto a stylus-inputted device. Not pleasant…
My impression of the iPaq & compatible range is that it was a nice idea, but Windows on a handheld sucked. A yuppie toy at worst. Some fancy features but not in the ballpark of newton/palm usability. ActiveSync was especially flakey.
The best thing I did with the iPaq was to install Familiar,
http://familiar.handhelds.org/
But storage was a problem, 16MB flash ROM will only get you so far… If only HPaq would release a handheld with an iPoq HD and built-in wifi (none of this pc card sleeve rubbish) we’d have the ultimate mobile linux machine using familiar’s big brother Intimate, http://intimate.handhelds.org/
Perfect for reading OSNews under a tree in the garden over your home wireless LAN.
Then if you wanted to get some real work done, i.e. using a keyboard, remember it’s a ‘proper’ linux. Hey presto! – the magic of X11!
The basic pen-based concept of a Tablet PC isn’t new. Such concepts have come and gone, with the exception of those seen in PDAs. So what gave Microsoft the confidence to succeed where other players have faltered?
No, the difference is that the whole tablet-like concept is actually a PDA or a IA with a large portable, mostly colour, screen.
Microsoft’s one is actually just a laptop with the keyboard hidden. Where you can write on the screen.
To me, very different concepts. Though I’m spectical about Microsoft’s concept.
BeIA and Windows XP Tablet PC (which from here on I would call WTB) is very different in concepts. BeIA is, well, an operating system for internet appliance. These devices uses a custom made operating system, mostly Linux, so this is the market Be wanted to get into. Internet appliance is where the manufacturer builds their own UI and their apps and dumb down the user interface. (e.g. I doubt the eVilla’s default UI is also the default in BeIA).
WTB on the other hand is Windows XP Pro on a laptop, built for pen-based usage. You can also use the keyboard, if you like. VERY different concepts. If Be came out with BeOS with handwriting recogniction, and features (like the BeOS Journal) running on a tablet PC, your message up there may have some backing.
And I haven’t even started about Microsoft so-called “stiffling” Be Inc. If there is anyone stifling Be’s market is Be themselves. I’m not going into this (it would probably cause Eugenia pulling her hair off…), but Be is a sad, but common case of great technology, stupid marketing.
i want to remember that ms proposed the tablet pc concept at the same time as that beia/audrey thing.
also transmeta had some take on this a few year ago didnt they?
Transmeta is used is some Tablet PC, and along with Intel and AMD, its processors are endorsed by Microsoft. HP’s Compaq Evo, for example, uses the Crusoe (forgot what type) for its Tablet PC.
Bart G.: … is in the http://www.pacebook.com . I’ve played with one and it’s just not fast enough.
It’s REALLY cool, but there’s a ‘squishyness’ to the performance that is difficult to describe, but definitely hurts the overall impression of the product and specifically the transmeta CPU.
Unless you are complaining about rendering speeds of your AfterEffects work, or how long does it take for MyDVD to make an MPEG2 file on that machine, or so on, I think the speed is caused by the laptop maker themselves, not Crusoe. I have tried a lot of Crusoe-based laptops (hey, I live in Asia!), none of them for simple tasks is slower than their Intel counter parts.
tc: Wonder if this is what they meant when they said they will “outsmart” Linux – which seems to be segregating more each day.
No, they meant it when talking about servers, not the desktop :-P. But speaking of Linux, wonder if there would be any distributions that would come optimized for SpeedStep or PowerNow, increasing battery life on laptops? Cause Linux on my laptop drains the battery two times faster than Windows XP, and only doing system stuff…
Having used an iPaq device, I’m skeptical. So, microsoft comes up with a spec that is somewhere in between the PDA and the notebook. Essentially still trying to graft the Win32 interface onto a stylus-inputted device. Not pleasant…
Tablet PCs *IS NOT* a PDA. It is a laptop. A laptop with a keyboard that can be hidden or detached. And I don’t see how using a pen would hinder using Windows XP’s UI, though I wonder how they are going to get to the context menus.
As for Familar…. then it banged me: you are just a Linux geek! Looking at the screenshots, sure it looks nice, but I doubt I can use it on the road. I much prefer Pocket PC’s UI.
Besides, what version of Windows CE are you using?
Ummm, the problem is, Microsoft doesn’t own Acer. umm..
and yet it sounds like it’s written to say that.
I could be wrong though. HAha
rajanr…
the fact is its very easy to implement gesturing on beos .. now with that said
whats your technical background?
Yes, I’ve seen the beiapaq, I’ve seen the eVilla. I’ve seen the beia fujitsus. I’ve seen the tuPaq(a iPaq running QNX). Will you ever see them on store shelves? While most of them are certianly better you perhaps won’t.
And yet, the reason for failure of the Dreamcast was CE, why is this? The dreamcast was hellacooler.
There was a lot of development by many companies, not just Be, to develop IA devices, and they are mostly better than what they have out, for the most part.
Some companies who developed prototypes SPENT millions to develop them, they just threw the molds out, after their convorsations with microsoft.
Isn’t that TOO ODD?
I don’t want anything based on CE.
I really hate to do this but the i realised i must http://www.homenetappliance.com/beiazonearchive.html
look at the above link and admit your wrongdoing!
and then lets pick apart that tablet pc:s arent pda’s!
what is a pda, its a personal digital assistan.
simply put a device that helps us improve and organise our day, be that wordprocessing or organising contacts, the webtablets offer the same
solution.
by your definition the sharp saurus isnt a pda, but a tablet pc, since it
hides a keyboard.
oh yes i won this one
robert renling: rajanr…
the fact is its very easy to implement gesturing on beos .. now with that said
My point was totally not about this. Totally not about features especially. It was about target market. Fact: Windows XP Tablet PC and BeIA[/i] is after two distinctively different markets.
robert renling: whats your technical background?
It doesn’t take a 7 year old to realize trucks and cars are in two different markets. Likewise, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand a Tablet PC isn’t a goddamn PDA or an IA. I don’t understand how this is revelant to the discussion.
robert renling: I really hate to do this but the i realised i must http://www.homenetappliance.com/beiazonearchive.html
look at the above link and admit your wrongdoing!
LOL, LOL and again LOL. Doesn’t AT ALL counter my points. My whole entire point is about the target market. What would be better is BeOS vs. Windows Xp Tablet PC. (Besides, a proper comparison between Windows and BeIA would be Windows XP Embedded and BeIA)
robert renling: and then lets pick apart that tablet pc:s arent pda’s!
Very simple. PDAs stand for personal digital assistant. Now look at it from the corporate perspective: what does an assistant do? Organize your day. How? Your contacts, your schedule etc.
Tablet PC is just a different metaphor from a laptop. Technically it is almost identical, and most tablet PCs can be easily coverted into normal laptops.
Microsoft has an OS made just for PDAs, my friend, it is called Windows Pocket PC 2002 (Windows CE .NET is coming out soon, BTW).
robert renling: oh yes i won this one
And I’m God. Oh wait, you are sacarstic.
You didn’t even try to counter my points. Your whole collection of posts in this thread can be easily summarized in one sentence: “I don’t understand Tablet PCs at all, but I’m guessing it is the same as PDAs and IAs just because I said so, and this means Microsoft=Evil, Be=Beacon of all things good”.
obelix: Some companies who developed prototypes SPENT millions to develop them, they just threw the molds out, after their convorsations with microsoft.
Name one. The only one came to mind is Gateway, which threw away Amiga (but they bought it and sold it).
my technical background.. aside from engineering and 2 years as a crypto asnalyst with one of the best , been utilising computers on an advanced level since oh 86. right about the time you were born !?
yes true and whatnot, the comparison should be between beia and xp embedded, on embedded devices bot beia and linux excels Beyond XP embedded, performance wise.
but then the pda definition is flawed or applied wrongly on certain devices.
since you could very well aplly it to any digital device .
ah and then again unless i can use the windows platform too outperfom any of my pda’s which all run linux. (agendavr3), (ipaq) ,or my psion5mx that hasnt happened yet afaik.
and before i even think of using windows on an IA i would like microsoft to start tightening the windows platform up to accpetable standards..
Re: Ok, I will complete the thought.
By rajan r (IP: 219.93.197.—) – Posted on 2002-10-12 04:50:36
obelix: Some companies who developed prototypes SPENT millions to develop them, they just threw the
molds out, after their convorsations with microsoft.
Name one. The only one came to mind is Gateway, which threw away Amiga (but they bought it and sold it
—
oh i have to answer this one.
look at the link i submitted, all of hose companies prototyped ia:s with beia as a platform and almost all of them Were approached by ms.
the biggest names were
compaq
dell
gateway
and
SONY
Eeek, the bolds…..
and before i even think of using windows on an IA i would like microsoft to start tightening the windows platform up to accpetable standards..
Tablet PCs, I said it once, I’m saying it again, ISN’T an IA. It isn’t advertise as so, and heck, technically it isn’t. Want to see the difference? Take out your favourite IA and compare.
1) Hard disks
Tablet PCs, like ALL laptops and notebooks come with hard disks. Most, if not all, IAs leave these out. The OS normally resides on a ROM.
2) The OS.
Tablet PC comes with an almost identical (perhaps different a little for pen-based usage) as Windows XP for the desktop. Now look at ALL of your IAs, their UI is based on a limited amount of apps. Plus to add the fact that ALL OS’s used in IAs are extreemely modular, to fit for a particular product’s needs.
3) The hardware
Tablet PCs comes with practically the same hardware as a ultra-thin laptop. An IA normally comes with low end hardware not made for portablity (e.g. low voltage and battery requirements).
4) The software
Tablet PCs are made for corporate use, IAs for consumer use. For example, there isn’t an Office-like application on any IA, is there?
I could go on and on.
Your entire points is based on the fact that tablet PCs is indeed an PDA or an IE because it is an “assistant” In that case, I own 4 PDAs (all of them desktops :-).
oh i have to answer this one.
look at the link i submitted, all of hose companies prototyped ia:s with beia as a platform and almost all of them Were approached by ms.
Uhmmm, the link you sent me have no mention of Microsoft. It has no mention of an IA being discontinued, being that outdated.
Plus, since you highlighted this company, Sony discontinued the eVilla due to lack of sales, and slow penetration. It also discontinued the product because of “stability and usability” (you can read a lot about that on Usenet before the dismiss where eVilla users complained about speed).
Some links of its dismiss
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-272399.html?legacy=cnet
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/13289.html
There ya go.
And my favourite quote:
my technical background.. aside from engineering and 2 years as a crypto asnalyst with one of the best , been utilising computers on an advanced level since oh 86. right about the time you were born !?
And you technical background, if it is true in the first place, what does all that achievements have to do with IAs, PDAs, and Tablet PCs. Because you are mostly spewing out politics rather than technical discussions. And what age gotta do with anything? What did you accomplish when you where 16, BTW?
PS: I like BeOS, I think that BeIA is a great technical product. But I’m not a blind zealot. Especially to compare to products of different markets. What’s next? A comparison between Solaris 9.0 and PocketPC 2002?
off topic but..
What the hell do you mean if it is true.. i consider that remark a defamation of my character.
what my background has to do with anything?
geez. rajan really ..
when i was 16 most of my time was devoted to studying and politics
mind you..
yes rajan, and its the market politics we are discussing isnt it, a company that uses a monopoly to leverage sales and to exert force upon other companies.
and by the way what do you think caused that “slow market penetration” for sony?
ah and rajan, why then call it and tablet pc and not an ultra thin laptop, but please do go on.
oh and btw. rajan from reading your comments i cant help to notice that your on the same level of “spewing out politics” as i supposedly am.
but as i feel you cant take this discussion i end it here by saying, your probably to some extent right about this, but as it seems you also need to look outside you sandbox to be able to see the whole “scope”
yes rajan, and its the market politics we are discussing isnt it, a company that uses a monopoly to leverage sales and to exert force upon other companies.
Well then, we aren’t talking about the same thing. But on politics, do you have a single grain of proof to back up your claims against Microsoft or are you just saying what you are saying “just for fun”?
I mean, a person of your great experience and intelligence surely must know that pasing off claims doesn’t make it a fact.
and by the way what do you think caused that “slow market penetration” for sony?
Ahhh, do you know anyone that would like to get something that crashes all the time (hardware failure, mind you, not software), forces you to use an ISP that isn’t the best out there and gives you NO choice whatsoever in terms of content?
Not me, nor anyone I know. Including, and especially, average Joes and Janes. Yeah, the idea looks great on paper, but guess what? Same with WAP – how much has it been adopted by consumers? or MMS (multimedia message service)? What about communism? Has it gone anywhere lately?
You wanna blame all failed great technology on Microsoft? Sure go ahead.
oh and btw. rajan from reading your comments i cant help to notice that your on the same level of “spewing out politics” as i supposedly am.
If I am, then I’m sorry. But unlike you, I have nothing against Microsoft, nothing for it, nothing against its competitors, nothing for it either, and well, I’m as unbiased as anyone could be.
but as i feel you cant take this discussion i end it here by saying, your probably to some extent right about this, but as it seems you also need to look outside you sandbox to be able to see the whole “scope”
Well, you got somethings right too in your post, but it is human nature to point out the negative over the positive. (Besides, I did look out from my “sandbox”, which is probably the reason why I’m debating against you here. Cause otherwise I would have been what I was last year, Linux zealot that doesn’t want to have anything to do with Microsoft).
Besides, I really got to wonder, why a person of such great intelligence, great wisdom, great experience and great age stick around here debating about something to a teenager?
PS: I spend my time studying and also I know a lot about politics. While previously I was in the moderate left wing (the idealogy of my government), I formed my own opinion and decided to go for the far-right (http://www.capitalism.org/). As for studying is concern, trust me, I *have* to study. My future depends on it, cause if I don’t get a scholarship or something close to that, it is pay below US$500 for me…
take a look at this tablet: http://electrovaya.com. much more tablet than laptop, which i think i would prefer. but, the battery life, while yet to be seen, seems to be quite high. this will likely be my first tablet since the newton. sigh…
>Besides, I really got to wonder, why a person of such great intelligence, great >>>
>wisdom, great experience and great age
>stick around here debating about something to a teenager?
er.. rajan.. i was replying to a content posted by you aimed at me.
>If I am, then I’m sorry. But unlike you, I have nothing against Microsoft, nothing
>for it, nothing against its competitors,
>nothing for it either, and well, I’m as unbiased as anyone cou
Rajan take some time browse this site and you will notice a post by me on the subject of operating systems and their uses…
I do not use windows professionally since it isnt what the customers ask for.
email me …
we should talk.
Uhmmmm, you email address doesn’t work
Message from yahoo.com.
Unable to deliver message to the following address(es).
<[email protected]>:
Connected to 80.88.111.12 but sender was rejected.
Remote host said: 550 5.0.0 Spam rejected
Wow, I’m spam 🙂
Okay, no more personal insults from this point on.
” but Be is a sad, but common case of great technology, stupid marketing”
JLG made some mistakes yes but his marketing vision was clearly not that stupid. Otherwise, Microsoft would not have followed it to compete with them as is evident by XP’s new interface and this pad thing. Be’s mistake, and one that no one really understood then, was in under estimating just how far MS would go to protect their monopoly and just how much control MS has over PC makers. That was a serious mistake yes but the marketing was good.
Marketing is determined by the options that you have. Be, did not have many. They did considering what they were up against. MS has many options and lots of funding.
This tablet thing will probably find a place because MS has the funding to keep at it until they find the sweet spot for it. the same applies to their phone software, X box, the pocket PC etc.
Come on…. what the hell is the problem with PROOFREADING, for crying out loud! Doesn’t this bother anyone??
Be was having problems also determining who their market was. They start out building a complete system, then they build an OS only strategy running on Macs and PCS, then they tried to go OEM head to head with Microsoft with PCs. They kept saying their market was multimedia, yet they had no major developers because they had no solid commitment or tangable vision for the future that developers could have faith in. I think the problem was more leadership than marketing.
NO, Msft is evil alright.. an any assertion that CE somehow makes your pda magical is pure baloney.
However, I am not a blind zealot, there was something very magical and mystical while still giveing simplicity of use with the BeIA. As for companies I can name that dropped beia devices after microsoft “approached” them (even after negotiations and DEALS WERE MADE), I’ll try to name a few: Qubit, Fujitsu, Sony. There were over 30 companies, some very large, that were building beia based web pads. Ranjan, don’t tell me you work for msft and they want to win the court of public opinion? THERE IS NO OPINION- THERE IS ONLY FACT.
Innovative? who’s more innovative? All those links to home appliance we sites “the beia zone”, LOOK AT THE DATE!
I mean, seriously dude. Linux, Windows and MacOSX, will most certianly be the death of us all.
But only if we let them. >;-)
Ahh, your opinion becomes a fact.
Firstly, there is no proof that Microsoft approach them to drop BeIA. Most of these companies dropped it because nobody was buying it. There is absolutely no proof that Microsoft ask them to drop BeIA.
I’m going to use Sony’s eVilla for an example, because I know this one best. It was great, a nice UI, nice graphics, nice looking box. Would that get consumers to buy these kind of things? Well, all the Average Joes I’ve asked said no. Firstly, the price. Add in another couple of hundred dollars, and a really low end PC is yours today, with the ability to do a thousand of other things. Then it comes to content. To use the eVilla, you must have a EarthLink connection. And the content is provided by EarthLink and Sony. That means whatever they think is the news, it is the news for you.
Not forgeting the technical problems it is experiencing. Go ahead to some Usenet forums and scroll back to 2000, and see the amount of complaints passed on the eVilla.
To you, Microsoft is evil. To me, it is a lucky company that follows the same business principles as other successful companies.
You obviously have no idea about what marketing it. Go out, buy some marketing books, READ it, understand it, and come here and tell me staight in the eye Be did some marketing work.
Some of the basic blunders of Be’s marketing:
1) They have no proper target market. They say multimedia, but multimedia is practically half of the PC market. And if you loosen the defination; the whole PC market. They have no small target markets where people have a reason to buy a BeBox, or a machine compatible with BeOS to install it. Why? The lack of apps. Now, just say Be was smart enough to find a niche market. Say it finds the digital video editing market seducing, it would go down, survey their target market, try to get as many as possible apps used in that niche to be ported to Be OS (using Loki’s method of getting games to Linux). But did they do that? Nope, which brings me to my second point.
2) They broke one of marketing biggest rule. Take out any marketing book, even a thin pullout book, you would find this. They tried to sell something they made, not make something to sell. Which means, while the BeBox was a technological wonder, nobody wants to buy it. Apple customers can’t find the apps needed to use it. PC customers have the same headache. BeOS was a nice OS, I like it. It was responsive and fast even on my 120MHz Pentium MMX with 32MB of RAM, a feat I can’t possibly do with Windows or Linux. But without the apps, I can’t use it.
Sorry to say, that’s the fact.
3) It broke a rule any sane MBA businessmen wouldn’t do. It tried to go head-on with Microsoft, a company 1000 times larger than it is. Even though Microsoft plays nice with them, allowing PC makers to dual boot Windows and Be OS, they are bound to fail. The first step before being a commodity is to aggresively aquire some niches. After that, expand. When you have expanded enough, the market automatically makes you a commodity.
Be’s mistake, and one that no one really understood then, was in under estimating just how far MS would go to protect their monopoly and just how much control MS has over PC makers.
What Be OS zealots would like us to think is that Microsoft went through new meassures to get rid of Be OS on OEM PCs. They want us to believe that Microsoft approach guys at Toshiba, HP, etc. forbiding them from dualbooting BeOS and Windows. Couldn’t be further from the truth, my friend. What Microsoft did was just keeping an policy it has kept since they bought MS-DOS. Their OEM deals makes sure Microsoft gets an exclusive place in the PC that bundles it.
What Be failed to do is properly surveying the market.
Otherwise, Microsoft would not have followed it to compete with them as is evident by XP’s new interface and this pad thing.
I don’t see how XP’s interface is similar, as remotely as possible, to Be OS, except the taskbar (whom each application gets a menu for the windows open). So copying ONE idea makes Be a great marketer? Wow.
As for the Tablet pad thingy, if you read the thread, you would see it is a totally DIFFERENT concept. A competiting concept, but a different concept nontheless.
Marketing is determined by the options that you have. Be, did not have many.
Actually, Be had a thousand different opportunities. One of the biggest was when Copland failed at Apple. Be could have successfully gotten disgrunted ISVs to port their apps to BeOS, but did they even try? Nope.
If Be can’t use all, or any in fact, of the opportunities granted to them, well, sorry for them, they are bound to fail.