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Thursday, May 23, 2002 2:12:40 PM
NB: note hightlighted section below.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/134459636_summit23.html
Tablet coming in October: Executives get glimpse at future of PCs
By Brier Dudley
Seattle Times technology reporter
The Tablet PC, a new type of computer that Microsoft hopes will rejuvenate industry sales and broaden computer usage, will go on sale in October, Chairman Bill Gates disclosed yesterday at his annual CEO Summit.
Gates has shown early versions of the Tablet during speeches for several years, but until yesterday the company had been vague about when it will be ready to sell.
Gates let slip the October launch while discussing how speech- and handwriting-recognition technology will make computers easier and more useful.
"We expect these new natural interfaces will be mainstream literally within the next several years,' he said.
Gates is hosting approximately 100 chief executive officers at the two-day, sixth annual technology forum. After briefings at Microsoft's Redmond campus, the executives rode a charter boat from Kirkland to Gates' waterfront mansion in Medina for a dinner of Washington asparagus salad, grilled halibut or lamb and Washington wines.
The executives were also lent early versions of the Tablet PC to use during their visit.
Tablet PCs are similar to laptop computers, but they will come with advanced handwriting-recognition software and a special display screen that works with an electronic pen for taking notes.
Microsoft developed a special version of its Windows XP operating system to run Tablet PCs. The devices are being built to Microsoft specifications by computer companies such as Acer and Toshiba and expected to sell for about $2,000.
Gates said the note-taking function will make Tablets less awkward to use at meetings and better for spontaneously writing a note or annotating a document and sending it to a friend or co-worker.
Handwriting recognition is a tricky software problem, and Gates told of how left-handed users tend to take longer to cross their t's, confusing early versions of the Tablet software.
"I'm left-handed, and so our Tablet teams definitely have gotten a lot of feedback about making sure they can recognize left-handers," he said.
A longtime goal of computer science is to develop simpler ways than a keyboard and mouse to get information in and out of computers, and Gates said his company is spending more than $4 billion annually researching these technologies. He said it's part of an effort to add more functions to computers while at the same time reducing their complexity.
Several executives selected to address reporters at the summit were enthusiastic about the Tablet PC, but Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley acknowledged it took several tries to understand one of the words he had written.
"If I can do it, everyone can do it,' said Toys R Us CEO John Eyler. "I think this comes as second nature. It's very easy to use."
Eyler also mentioned that his sales of Microsoft's Xbox game console quadrupled last week after the price came down from $299 to $199.
Other executives attending included Disney's Michael Eisner, eBay's Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina and Gateway's Ted Waitt.
The Tablet PC is one of several new formats for PC technology envisioned by Microsoft. For the company, such devices would broaden the usefulness of its software and create markets beyond the desktop PC, sales of which have flattened or even declined.
Microsoft is already selling television control boxes, the Xbox video-game console and handheld computers based on Windows.
Debuting later this year are phone-computer combination devices and detachable, flat-panel computer monitors designed to enable users to control PCs and access e-mail and digital media wirelessly from around their homes.
On the horizon are PCs for cars, PC-based stereos and home-security systems, according to slides that Gates showed the CEOs. Also displayed was a computer monitor three times the width of a standard display.
Gates also explained how business processes would be streamlined using software based on XML, a programming standard that allows computers to interact and share data on their own without a person controlling the exchange. Gates said Microsoft will have invested $10 billion in XML-related technology within a few years.
To lighten his speech, Gates poked fun at former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling. He said that at least year's summit Skilling had given some of the "pearls of wisdom."
On a slide, Gates showed a quote from Skilling saying that business is moving so fast "you don't need a strategic-planning function anymore."
Smirking, Gates said it was an "interesting insight," drawing chuckles from the crowd.
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