Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

Tom seems to think so...

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/31899/118/

Re: Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

This isn't so surprising, really. Any hardware platform, no matter how cool or gadgety or chock-full-of-possibilities, can't be sold to the general public on its hardware merits alone. It's the software that makes it or breaks it.

Selling a UMPC with Windows-XP-Tablet-PC-Plus-Goodies-Edition isn't enough to sell UMPC. In general, computers are really hard to use for average everyday mortals. Windows XP can be confusing on the desktop PC, let alone on a small platform. Simply taking desktop concepts and shrinking them for a UMPC isn't enough. Take a simple concept like menus. When tied to the right mouse button, menus are still confusing for some users. Without a mouse, what chance do they have? Perhaps a new paradigm was in order...

There's a lesson here for Internet tablets... Is IT2007 friendly/usable/powerful enough?

-F

Re: Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

um... almost.

Re: Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

"When tied to the right mouse button, menus are still confusing for some users. Without a mouse, what chance do they have? Perhaps a new paradigm was in order..."

I've been daydreaming about a cricket-clicker on the bottom or side of my N800. When you click one part of it, it's like a mouse left-click, the other part is like a mouse right-click. Why not? I would like some mouselike creature on my N800.

Re: Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

Wouldn't it be simpler to make a user interface that doesn't need pointer buttons? The Newton (yes, again!) had one (as in: 1!) hardware button: the on/off switch. Nobody ever asked for more buttons, because its user interface was designed for the pen.

Re: Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

My boss at Quarterdeck for awhile was Gaston Bastaens, who ran my company into the ground after being in charge of the Newton at Apple, so I have never understand how it could have such a good reputation when he was associated with it. But you are right again.

Re: Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

There is a difference between the design of Newton/MessagePad, which -- certainly in its latter day incarnations -- was simply brilliant, and its management, which was -- er -- not.

Bastaens BTW certainly deserves his own circle in Hell. :rolleyes:

Re: Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

The UMPC didn't hit any of the sweet spots for me. It was too heavy, too large, too expensive - you could get a cheap, lightweight laptop for the same price and it would only be marginally bigger/heavier, and it would be more powerful than the UMPC!

Saddling the UMPC with Windows XP didn't help either - wrong OS for the job. Intel are flogging a dead horse by continuing the current UMPC form factor, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped it - reduce the size of some laptops by a fraction and you've got the current UMPC, it's just not needed as a seperate product category.

Intel will fair much better with the UMPC mk2 - smaller, lighter, cheaper (no Windows licence for a start!).

Re: Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

The UMPC certainly has a niche use in inventory management and auditing. But then, I'm trying to accomplish the same thing with the N800... ;)

Re: Intel abandons UMPCs?
 

Do you do this via intranet? Is there open source software for this you want ported?

Re: UMPCs - agree with what's been said. Too expensive price. Too expansive goals. Too expletive an OS.

What I pray for is that companies looking to linux as an alternative realize the need for compatibility and interoperability and community. -- If they each start cooking-up their own flavour of linux, they run the risk of splitting the developer community into too-small camps. An open-source developer community needs a critical mass to get the ball rolling. While the tendency for groups and individuals to bake their own flavor of linux cake works fairly well on the desktop, it should be resisted in the tablet/pda market, simply because the sales figures aren't high enough to guarantee a robust, productive community around each flavor of linux.