Mary Jo Foley gets a little defensive in today’s column, in which she claims her earlier remarks were misinterpreted:
For the record, I didn’t declare that Microsoft has decided to ax the Tablet PC.
No, she didn’t, but she did string together a bunch of provocative quotes and add a bunch of innuendo. People who read the article and concluded that the Tablet PC is in trouble read it correctly. (The headline, “Trouble in Tablet Land?” was also a clue.)
Then, in today’s column, Mary Jo does something just plain wrong: she turns her column over to reprint a bunch of letters she received on this subject from readers. Now, don’t get me wrong; I think the letter to the editor is a valuable format. But you can’t simply allow people to spout off with stuff that is just flat wrong and allow it to go uncorrected. Save that nonsense for newsgroups, where at least other people can respond.
I lost count of the number of errors and distortions among the letters published today. Examples:
There just isn’t a demand. Microsoft keeps the supply low and limited (an old marketing ploy used by Harley Davidson and others) in order to keep the appearance of high demand.
Interesting. Except that all the Tablet PCs are designed, manufactured, and sold by third parties. How can Microsoft keep their supply limited?
The Tablet pc was an abortive project that had such lame functionality and system bloat, not to mention file bloat (digital ink anyone?) that virtually no one cared. I have seen zero Tablet pc’s in the hands of ANYONE I know. At work or personally.
It’s always dangerous to generalize from personal experience. I’ve seen dozens of Tablet PCs in use, but I won’t claim they’re commonplace. The problem with this quote is that the author hasn’t got a clue about what digital ink is or how it works on a Tablet PC. It’s an extremely efficient data type. I’ve never heard any developer who writes apps for the Tablet PC claim it’s “bloated,” nor have I heard that from anyone who has actually used one.
[T]he OS for the Tablet was cobbled together and it shows. Missing apps, broken apps, broken promises are not inspiring those who decided to “wait it out” to see how things shake out before investing in one.
Get Windows XP Service Pack 2, which incorporates the Lonestar updates for Tablet PC. The beta is available now, and the full release will be ready this summer. I had the same reaction to the original Tablet PC software, but the new release has made a believer out of me.
When I read through these comments, one fact struck me: Those who have used a Tablet PC tend to like it, and most really like it. Those who use it and don’t like it usually complain about the weaknesses in the original release of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Those who complain the loudest usually haven’t even picked up a Tablet PC and are working off a handful of misconceptions.
Funny how that works out, isn’t it?
(Thanks to Marc Orchant for the link.)
Ed Bott 