The Courier.... too cool...

[Bremen Cole]

NIce!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/m...ctures-and-de/

The only issue I have with it is .... will it actually be made and sold. It's great to have mock ups and cool ideas.... but how about an announcement, or a release date. The courier has been talked about for months.....

If it is as this article shows.... I will HAVE to have it.............

[SCION]

Patience young grasshopper. Have you not learned anything from the QUE?

[cbone]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

NIce!
{snip}
If it is as this article shows.... I will HAVE to have it.............

+1!
Me getting my Courier with leather binder on.





All I ask is that it freaking comes out sooner (Aug or earlier) rather than later/never.

[Tamara]

Will it happen or will it be vapourware?

[Bremen Cole]

Originally Posted by Tamara

Will it happen or will it be vapourware?

My fear exactly.... or, it comes, but it's lacking some key features that are being hyped. The of course, there is the matter of price..................

[LDBoblo]

It's ambitious on an interface level. Hard to say if it's realistic or not. I look forward to more developments on it.

Even if it doesn't take off as a product, it's certainly giving a lot of people a good sense of what could feasibly be done in this sort of computing paradigm. That alone could be a big benefit for the market.

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

My fear exactly.... or, it comes, but it's lacking some key features that are being hyped. The of course, there is the matter of price..................

I have to wonder about it since Bill Gates has said that he feels a physical keyboard is still a necessity in a device.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by Tamara

I have to wonder about it since Bill Gates has said that he feels a physical keyboard is still a necessity in a device.

Don't see what Bill Gates has to do with the Courier project in any real sense.

But even assuming he is somehow mixed in with the Courier project, which seems extremely unlikely, the statement all the Apple fans seem to be using for the claim that he thinks keyboards are necessary is this:

“You know, I’m a big believer in touch and digital reading, but I still think that some mixture of voice, the pen and a real keyboard - in other words a netbook - will be the mainstream on that,” he said. “So, it’s not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, ‘Oh my God, Microsoft didn’t aim high enough.’ It’s a nice reader, but there’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.’”

It takes a good stretch and twist to go from "I think combination input will be mainstream" to "Keyboards are necessary".

Courier's release (or lack thereof) will likely have absolutely nothing to do with Bill Gates.

[Bremen Cole]

I certainly hope there is no keyboard. I already have a netbook (on it right now, and do just about all my internet on it)

A dead weight keyboard would kill it for me.... the user interface they show is what I want!

[DrDk]

Name instead of "Courier"

I have a suggestion!---"Microsoft WorkBook"----

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Tamara

I have to wonder about it since Bill Gates has said that he feels a physical keyboard is still a necessity in a device.

Never listen to those guys at the top. Remember what Steve Jobs said? "The only thing a tablet is good for is browsing when sitting on the toilet".

And we all know how that worked out.

[kennyc]

I don't know. That doesn't really do much for me. Sounds like a work tether.

[ctol]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

I certainly hope there is no keyboard. I already have a netbook (on it right now, and do just about all my internet on it)

A dead weight keyboard would kill it for me.... the user interface they show is what I want!

I too would hate to see it burdened by the weight of a built in hard keyboard. I think what would be more practical for it would be something on the order of a lightweight, portable, detachable keyboard like the ones that were available for pdas a few years ago. Or even a small roll-up keyboard similar to this one might be useful. It just depends on your particular needs. And yes, while making these two suggestions, I am fully aware that it will probably have some type of virtual keyboard available for keyboard entry. Virtual keyboards just don't cut it for me.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/sysadmin/5a7f/

Originally Posted by Tamara

I have to wonder about it since Bill Gates has said that he feels a physical keyboard is still a necessity in a device.

A previous post well refuted your statement. I will only add that there are a lot of past and current WinCE devices without keyboards, and a few Windows 7 tablets without keyboards.

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

NIce!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/m...ctures-and-de/

The only issue I have with it is .... will it actually be made and sold. It's great to have mock ups and cool ideas.... but how about an announcement, or a release date. The courier has been talked about for months.....

If it is as this article shows.... I will HAVE to have it.............

If my memory serves me correctly, and it often does NOT, when MS developed WinCE they used a device that was merely a test and display device to show the public and manufacturers what could be done on a WinCE device. So you are correct to worry about whether this is merely a test device or whether it is a production device. Either way, as another posted it certainly shows what is possible and if nothing else should help fuel the imagination of several manufacturers!

On the other hand, look how little imagination went into develping the iPad.

At a board meeting a while back: Hmmm...well Steve we could make the iPod touch bigger, more than double its price, use the same limited OS and apps, and pretend it is a brand new cutting edge device.