So let me get this straight. The new tablet from Microsoft will have a screen keyboard trackpad [stylus] Nice. It’s an inconvenient laptop.  I assume there’s also a cursor to go along with the trackpad? So you can use your fingers to swipe the screen, then type away on what will be an awesome Office app, then break out the stylus and create magical annotations on your Excel worksheets. Open your laptops now and try that interaction.  Pretend that it’s a Surface (not a hard leap), and move between the screen and keyboard and trackpad.. and imagine throwing a stylus on top of that. Is that natural? Is that something you’ll find yourself doing a lot? I’ll withhold judgment since we actually haven’t been able to play with the product yet.. but this suspiciously seems like a design by committee exercise that can only end up in a Frankenstein of a device.  But hey, maybe this is a pre-pre-precursor Microsoft’s brave new world. We ought to push into new forms instead of grafting old interactions onto new products. This feels very much like a diluted copy of a new technology (very Microsoftian). High-res

So let me get this straight. The new tablet from Microsoft will have a

  • screen
  • keyboard
  • trackpad
  • [stylus]

Nice. It’s an inconvenient laptop.  I assume there’s also a cursor to go along with the trackpad?

So you can use your fingers to swipe the screen, then type away on what will be an awesome Office app, then break out the stylus and create magical annotations on your Excel worksheets. Open your laptops now and try that interaction.  Pretend that it’s a Surface (not a hard leap), and move between the screen and keyboard and trackpad.. and imagine throwing a stylus on top of that. Is that natural? Is that something you’ll find yourself doing a lot?

I’ll withhold judgment since we actually haven’t been able to play with the product yet.. but this suspiciously seems like a design by committee exercise that can only end up in a Frankenstein of a device.  But hey, maybe this is a pre-pre-precursor Microsoft’s brave new world. We ought to push into new forms instead of grafting old interactions onto new products. This feels very much like a diluted copy of a new technology (very Microsoftian).