WHITE PAPERS SPONSORED PROFILES JOB BOARD WEBINAR CENTER FREE SOFTWARE BZ RESEARCH ALMSHAREPOINT EVENTS CALENDAR PRINT/PDF EDITION PRINT/PDF BACK ISSUES

SUBSCRIBE TODAY CUSTOMER SERVICE EDITORIAL CALENDAR EDITORIAL BEATS GUEST VIEW GUIDE SD TIMES 100 GUIDE EVENTS CALENDAR ADVERTISING ARTICLE REPRINTS REPORT A BUG SITE MAP

ABOUT US BZ MEDIA NEWS BZ RESEARCH NEWS ON MONDAY SPTECHREPORT SPTECHWEB SPTECHCON IPHONE/IPAD DEVCON ANDROID DEVCON PRIVACY POLICY CONTACT US

HOME >> COLUMNS

Windows & .NET Watch: MyPad

By Larry O'Brien

March 15, 2010 — (Page 1 of 3)
I am dictating the outline and first paragraphs of this column into a handheld recorder. After I plug it in to my computer, I’ll run a program to transcribe it, add paragraph breaks and punctuation, delete the hemming and hawing, and find a strong paragraph to move to the beginning. I will use a keyboard at some point, but not until the column is roughed out. I prefer to write, and read, on a slate computer the size of a writing pad.

I love to program for this computer. I learned the API from the very first beta, before there was hardware, and targeted the OS in projects I wrote on weekends and evenings. I learned that creating a great user experience that works with direct manipulation is more challenging than it initially seems; you might anticipate issues with the screen (parallax and larger buttons), but it turns out that the way that the hand and wrist move above the screen is at least equally challenging.

Writing on glass is not at all the same as writing on paper, and even on a screen the size of a pad of paper, cursive writing feels like you’re writing on an index card held in portrait mode. Nonetheless, I’m a huge believer in the form factor, and have written dozens of programs and articles on programming for it over the years.

“Over the years? Apple’s iPad has only just been announced!” you say? That’s true, but Microsoft first shipped an Ink-enabled version of Windows XP in 2002. Ink is baked into Vista and Windows 7. You can use pen input on a standard Windows Form, and you can program Ink directly in any managed language. Resolutions better than 1024x768 are readily available, Ink is captured faster and more accurately than mouse movement, and handwriting recognition has been improved and improved again until it is easily adequate for both cursive and block printing.

I’ve had five Tablet PCs over the years: two slates and three convertibles, including a Toshiba M200 that was probably my all-time favorite computer. I’ll compose this article using a Motion Computing M1400 slate manufactured in, I guess, 2004 or so.

Related Search Term(s): tablet computing

Pages 1 2 3

Share this link: http://sdt.bz/34190

Most Read Latest News Blog Resources

Zeichick’s Take: Radio moves from analog waveforms to digital packets
Streaming radio highlights the need for streaming applications to be designed to take up as little bandwidth as possible

Taking enterprise architecture to the business side
Startup Corso is bringing out a cloud-based planning platform that ties into business plans

Appcelerator Acquires Cocoafish to Add Instant Mobile Cloud Capabilities to its Industry Leading Titanium Platform
Appcelerator Offers Messaging, Social, Location and Storage Mobile Cloud Services to All Mobile App Publishers

ComponentOne Releases a Collection of 40+ UI Widgets Powered by HTML5 and jQuery
ComponentOne has announced the 2012 release of Wijmo: a kit of UI widgets for HTML5 and jQuery development

Taking enterprise architecture to the business side
Startup Corso is bringing out a cloud-based planning platform that ties into business plans

Top five apps to manage your workload
Web applications offer new ways to track your “to-do” lists

Not so fast when it comes to testing in the cloud
Developers face outsourcing, virtual lab management and mobile devices as obstacles

Xceed releases UX-focused suite for Microsoft’s WPF
"Blendables" helps match user experiences to developer visions

Are you at risk for burnout?
Burnout is a severe problem and it can strike at any time. Here's how to tell if you are nearing the edge.

Agility, mom, and apple pie
If we're to evaluate the state-of-the-art in software development, we should start with the values espoused in the Agile Manifesto.

RIM woos developers with free tablet
How do you get more apps ported to the BlackBerry PlayBook? By giving every developer a free tablet, of course!

GitHire: Use Headhunters to Find Your Perfect Programmer
Are you a hiring manager tired of scouring the job boards? Check out this new service that will find 5 people interested in your jobs.

The Hidden Costs of Software Licensing Moving beyond paper-based software licensing to more flexible, software-based licensing is a business decision. There is a growing trend tow...

Case Study: You May Need a Development Mechanic As a contractor for a major financial player in Germany, SOBEGE, a German-based consultancy specializing in embedded IT and web services, wa...

Ensuring Software Quality at a Major International Bank One of the world’s leading international banks has adopted AgitarOne technology for delivering generated unit tests for their Java software...

Load Testing Adobe Flex Applications Adobe Flex applications may be different from applications you’ve worked with before. For classic HTML web applications, the server does all...

Technorati

Digg

Slashdot

Facebook

Friendfeed

Twitter

del.icio.us

Cloud computing is green computing Despite advances made in efficient power consumption, cloud's scalability is the best way to cut down on energy use

Short Takes: October 15, 2008 Our editors take a look at how Oracle's OpenWorld is becoming more eco-conscious, why the iPhone is better than the BlackBerry, the convenience of watching TV shows online and tips from Secure Computing on securing your infrastructure.

What to look for when taking on cloud computing projects Contractual alignment of controls and privacy assurance are the two things to look for in third-party cloud providers.

Add comment

Name*
Email*
Country

Comment

Cloud computing is green computing
Despite advances made in efficient power consumption, cloud's scalability is the best way to cut down on energy use Read More...

News on Monday
more>>
SharePoint Tech Report
more>>

Download Current Issue
FEBRUARY 2012 PDF ISSUE

Need Back Issues?
DOWNLOAD HERE

Want to subscribe?

Are you at risk for burnout?
Burnout is a severe problem and it can strike at any time. Here's how to tell if you are nearing the edge.
02/09/2012 02:16 PM EST

Agility, mom, and apple pie
If we're to evaluate the state-of-the-art in software development, we should start with the values espoused in the Agile Manifesto.
02/07/2012 11:57 AM EST

RIM woos developers with free tablet
How do you get more apps ported to the BlackBerry PlayBook? By giving every developer a free tablet, of course!
02/04/2012 01:57 PM EST

GitHire: Use Headhunters to Find Your Perfect Programmer
Are you a hiring manager tired of scouring the job boards? Check out this new service that will find 5 people interested in your jobs.
02/03/2012 12:17 PM EST

Facebook claims hacker cred
Facebook's SEC S-1 filing form includes a short essay on the Hacker Way by Mark Zuckerberg himself.
02/02/2012 08:26 AM EST

Ryan Dahl steps down
Ryan Dahl, creator of Node.js, steps back from his position as gatekeeper for the project.
02/01/2012 04:58 PM EST