Bonum necessarium extra terminos necessitatis non est bonum
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Microsoft kills its Courier folding tablet
SOFTWARE OUTFIT Microsoft has abandoned its free push into the tablet market with a product which, on paper at least, looked better than the Ipad.
The dual-screen Courier tablet was one of the more intriguing ideas to come from the company in the past decade, but for some reason the Vole does not plan to bring it to market.
Microsoft was positioning the device as a digital journal that featured both pen-based and multitouch interfaces, and it would have also made a compelling e-reader product as well in a market the company has yet to dive into.
Gizmodo got hold of concept pictures and video of the device and its impressive-looking interface, but now Microsoft's corporate VP of communications, Frank Shaw has told Gizmodo that Courier won't be going into production.
He said that the Vole was always looking at new ideas and investigating, testing and incubating them. "It's in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time," he said.
Technology from the Courier project could be used in future products, but he did not think that there's much of a chance we'll see the innovative dual-screen setup in any of those. Most likely, Courier technology will be integrated into Windows 7 equipped tablets, but that seems far less innovative without the availability of two screens.
It is not clear what Microsoft is thinking. It appears to be surrendering the ground to Apple. Either it thinks that the Ipad will die, which is what it thought would happen with the Internet, or it just can't be arsed.
True, there is little proof that Apple's glorious vision for the Ipad will pay off in the long term. There is nothing to suggest that once the novelty has worn off that people will want to keep using a Tablet PC.
However it is unlike Microsoft to burn its bridges in this way. It is more Vole-like for the company to keep hedging its bets.
There's more about this puzzling retreat by Microsoft here. µ
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Microsoft probably saw the writing on the wall that this whole "pad" system is just a lame fad that will disappear in a year or two when people come to terms with the fact that it has very little utility for the price. Tablets have always been of fringe-level usefulness even in the best of times. Unfortunately, not even the golden multitouch of Apple can make these tablets much more useful especially without a keyboard.
The best part is all these "me too!" manufacturers that follow every Apple move like sheep. They'll build their hokey imitations that don't even have brand recognition, with custom cheesy interfaces on Linux, or a copy of Windows with its tablet functionality; then they'll get to eat extremely thin margins on a product that few people will actually want to bother with. Apple should be laughing itself to the bank for this big ruse, and I congratulate Microsoft for exiting this market segment early.
It used to be that MS stamp on hardware was synonymous with reliability and compatibility.
But then they started bringing out rubbish products. Intellimouse Explorer 4 is one that sticks in my craw as it was so very obviously flawed by input lag even a 12 year old could tell you it wasnt fit for purpose.
Then they just gave up. I went looking for a MS joystick the other day to replace a Sidewinder that deserved a long service medal, and there werent any.
Its Ballmer again isnt it !?
is how to enter text on the thing. Me, I favor some sort of virtual keyboard that would be dependent on the idea that someone already knew where all the keys were. Stab where q would normally be on a keyboard and it registers on the screen. A little lower(depending on where your hands are) and that's an a, lower still you get a z. I'm not going to patent it because I'm not a troll, it seems rather obvious to me that it's a decent idea as to how to do it.
So they scratched-out the spec on paper for a competing product and then a few months later just took it back.
How about title lines like "FUD Failure" from INQ? How about "Microsoft Kills Innovation, Same Old Software's All They Know". But no, Nick gives us a tame "Microsoft kills its Courier folding tablet". Did you farm this article out and just put your name on this Nick, because there's actually a neutral ton to the whole thing.
So what's so hard about producing a tablet? It was apparently easy for Apple to rip the keyboard off a netbook, add a touchscreen, and stick a high price tag on it. Seems like it should be easy to duplicate the simple design and charge a little less for it. Yet HP is finding it hard to compete and Microsoft is giving up.
Maybe, the hard problem is not designing the hardware, but designing an interface that works on a small screen without a keyboard. Maybe Apple, since it designs both software and hardware, can produce a usable interface. Once Apple has figured it out, Microsoft and the rest can just copy.
At any rate, anyone who has dismissed the Ipad will have a long wait until they can buy a competitive product.
Found that "success" of putting their label on Chinese made mice and keyboards didn't scale well to larger projects.
Not like Microsoft? You must be joking, or you came down in a recent shower.
It's exactly like Microsoft to publish a vaporware product "concept" (or roadmap or somesuch nonsense) when they have nothing else to compete with a genuinely innovative and well-engineered real product from a competitor.
They've been doing this for over 25 years and anyone with even an inkling of a clue could see that the Courier was yet another smoke and mirrors job from Redmond. The only new thing was that this time they folded their tent and crawled off so quickly.
Vaporware works, if it's from Microsoft, to stifle innovation. I'm surprised Microsoft didn't leave this hanging for a year or two.
Since MS has abandoned the one interesting hardware protoype its produced in years, perhaps MSI will move forward on its similar project.
... or, maybe, the thing is riddled with foreign patents (I have seen something similar, years back, as a "One Laptop per Child" project ... and there is not much Microsoft hates more than paying someone it's fair share and not keeping the whole dough for them self ...
And now the iPad is out anyway, Courier is no longer useful as a spoiler, and is a distraction from real products.
But that's only a guess.
another instance of microshaft copying someone else's idea and doing such a bad job it fails miserably.
i am pretty sure they do this to create tax losses or maybe for some other sinister reason but i certainly do not believe it is done with the traditional honest business intentions because of how often it happens...
people 'tolerate' ms products out of necessity, they dont tend to buy them on a fanboi basis.