Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
If, as your post suggests, it's only because they are Microsoft-supporting products, I can understand why you might not like them (but is it because you don't like the software, or the company?). But as there are alternatives, such as Nokia, Archos (the Archos 5 runs Android, though I believe the rest run Windows) and Asus, you could do without Windows SW if desired.
|
Nope. I don't care about MS/Intel per se. It's the use case. What were you to
do with a UMPC that you wouldn't do with a desktop, laptop, or tablet? (Or a smartphone or PDA, on the other end.)
And the specs on UMPCs appeared engineered to pose no threat to existing laptops.
Quote:
|
As a longtime Win-based PDA user, I've had no issues finding readers for any desired format under Windows. Based on what I've seen and read, you can't say that about every OS. So there are some advantages to using a Win-based device.
|
Sure. But again, it's not really about MS/Intel. They were trying to create a new category of machines. Sure, they had their own mercenary reasons, but the big question was "What
need does the UMPC fill? What would you
do with a UMPC that you wouldn't do with an existing device?"
Short answer? For the most part, there
wasn't one.
Peter F. Drucker said "The job of business is the
create a market." And so it is, but there has to be potential there. Business creates a market by recognizing and filling a need. It does not create a market by designing and building a device that does not fill a specific existing need.
The ASUS eee created a new market by filling a need. They demonstrated a lot of folks wanted a small, light, portable, and
inexpensive device that had internet connectivity. The netbooks are probably overlapping into UMPC turf now, because they've created a market which has room for higher end devices. Earlier UMPCs simply cost too much for what they offered.
______
Dennis