More Evidence of the 'Mainstreaming' of the Tablet PC

Evan Feldman helped form the Tablet PC group at Microsoft and later went with the "Mobility Client PC Business Unit" when it was split off from the Tablet PC group. In his recent post "Re-orgs are a way of life" Evan tells us that the two teams (Tablet and Mobility Client) are moving closer together so that they can both focus on Longhorn (the next Windows) in tandem.

Someday, You'll Own a Tablet PC

In his eWeek article "Someday, You'll Own a Tablet PC" David Coursey makes the convincing argument that, with the Tablet PC edition of Windows merging with the mainstream Windows in Longhorn, eventually all business notebook computers will have Tablet PC capabilities and it will be up to the user to choose if, when and how to use those capabilities. Like I said before, Microsoft's "giving up" on the Tablet PC OS as a discreet product doesn't mean it's a failure; it means it is a success.

False Alarm -- Doctors Will Still Treat Attorneys

In its article Doctors Denounce Idea to Allow Denial of Care to Some Lawyers, the New York Times reports that a doctor's proposal asking the American Medical Association to endorse refusing care to lawyers involved in medical malpractice cases drew an angry response from colleagues at the annual meeting of the association. Many doctors stood up to denounce the resolution in passionate speeches - even after its sponsor, Dr. J. Chris Hawk, asked that it be withdrawn.

Lawyer, Heal Thy Self

In LAWYER, HEAL THYSELFThe American Bar Association reports that the AMA is considering a resolution that recognizes that physicians may refuse care to plaintiffs lawyers except in emergency situations.

Tablet PC Lives!

More on the "death" of the Tablet PC.

Rob Enderle in an eWeek article reasons that Microsoft is not killing the Tablet PC but rather is merging the Tablet PC edition of Windows with Longhorn in large part due to the reticence of corporate IT departments to support more than one image or version of an operating system across their organization.

He concludes:

In the end, Microsoft's move to merge the Tablet PC platform into Longhorn does not represent the death of the Tablet PC, but its continued (painful) birth.

Employers Lose Right to Jury Trial

Overlawyered reports that the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has overruled its own 1997 decision by now holding that even though employees have an absolute right to seek a jury trial rather than have their bias claims decided by the state anti-bias agency, employers do not have the same right. Why? Because letting employers opt for a jury trial was undermining the state agency's authority. The local ACLU (which filed an amicus brief in the case) praised the decision.

Rumors of the Death of Tablet PC Greatly Exaggerated.

I get really steamed at guys like Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, freelance writer and editor of Channel Zone newsletter and eWeek's Linux and Open Source Site. And no, it's not just the hyphenated surname, although that irritates me too. It's the masquerading as a journalist that does it.

In his recent article entitled "Goodbye and Good Riddance to the Tablet PC," Mr. Vaughan-Nichols reports that Microsoft is giving up on the idea of the Tablet PC for the mass market and then he expresses his joy at the impending passing of the Tablet PC. Ignoring for the moment his blatant bias, I submit that he is simply wrong.

Mind you, I'm not talking about a simple disagreement with Mr. Vaughan-Nichols' opinion or really even the conclusion he reached. And I'm certainly not talking about some sort of deep philosophical or religious disagreement like, say, cats vs. dogs, paper vs. platic, lid up vs. lid down or over-the-roll vs. under-the-roll. No, I'm talking about blatant fallacies -- gaping holes -- in the very premise upon which he bases his reasoning.

I'm afraid that in his haste to eulogize the Tablet PC Mr. Vaughan-Nichols (a) confuses Tablet PC the operating system with Tablet PC the hardware platform, and (b) assumes that the demise of a dedicated "mobile" or "tablet" version of Windows equates to the demise of the tablet platform.

The foundation of Mr. Vaughan-Nichols' reasoning is the premise that Tablet PCs are on the decline. In support of this he cites an eWeek article that says no such thing. As I read it, the article simply says that Microsoft may have goofed in thinking that the slate version of Tablet PCs would win out over traditional notebooks when it now appears that notebook-like convertible Tablet PCs are the more popular platform. Does it say that the Tablet PC as a platform is doomed or even "on the decline" as Mr. Vaughan-Nichols implies? Absolutely not. Just that a different variety of Tablet PC is the one winning out.

Then the article says that the need for a dedicated edition of the Windows operating system just for Tablet PCs may no longer be necessary. In the light most favorable to Mr. Vaughan-Nichols I suppose this could be stretched to mean that the Tablet PC operating system is on the way out, but only because it may be subsumed by the truly mainstream Windows XP Professional. That is akin to saying that faxing, PC remote control and ZIP compression are "on the decline" because the Windows operating system now performs those functions natively. Unique software dedicated to those functions may not be necessary any longer, but those functions of the PC are certainly still in use.

To me this doesn't say that Tablet PCs are dying, as Mr. Vaughan-Nichols would like to exuberantly conclude, but rather just the opposite -- that they are on their way to becoming so mainstream that the Tablet PC edition of Windows ought to just be absorbed into the standard Windows operating system. In other words, Microsoft is questioning whether it makes sense to maintain two separate releases of the Windows operating system, and the obvious answer is no.

I have to say that I am not and have never been a Microsoft evangelist, or even a fan. On the other hand I have to admit that Microsoft is building some pretty darned good software these days and is doing a lot of things right. Clearly Mr. Vaughan-Nichols cannot see through whatever drives his anti-Microsoft or anti-Tablet PC bias to admit that Microsoft may be on to something with the Tablet PC. I can't detect from his article why he is so biased, except for perhaps that he has had a bad experience with its recognition of his handwriting. I find that interesting because my handwriting is far from textbook and have been awed by its accuracy. Regardless, if Mr. Vaughan-Nichols doesn't like the Tablet, he doesn't have to use one. But please just give us the facts and let the rest of us make up our own minds without the slant, okay?

Now, to Mr. Vaughan-Nichols credit, if it is in fact true that Tablet PC (both slate and 'convertible' models) sales are actually declining then I might agree with him. If Microsoft concedes that the Tablet PC platform appeals only to niche vertical markets, then they might as well give up on it altogether because it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If it remains a niche product for narrow vertical markets (e.g. medical), then the hardware can never achieve mass-market pricing and thus will never achieve mass-market acceptance.

Follow-up:
See this recent posting by Evan Feldman, one of the founders of Microsoft's Tablet PC group, in his new blog, Evan's Weblog of Tech and Life.