Bill Gates: Microsoft is Working On 'a Lot of Tablets'
Despite the fact that the last week has seen two Windows 7 tablets scrapped, Microsoft founder Bill Gates says the company is still working on a tablet project. In fact, Bill says the folks at Redmond are working on 'a lot of different tablet projects.
TechFlash reports that in an interview with Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway lieutenant Charlie Munger for Fox Business Network, Gates reassured people that Microsoft wasn't giving up on tablets. And though it seems to be going out of fashion as of late, Bill also stated that the company believes pen- or stylus-based input methods will become the mainstream for students.
“Microsoft has a lot of different tablet projects that we're pursuing," said Gates. "We think that work with the pen that Microsoft pioneered will become a mainstream for students. It can give you a device that you can not only read, but also create documents at the same time."
So Microsoft hasn't given up on tablets yet and the company really digs the idea of pen- or stylus-based input, but what do they think of the competition? Bill says Apple is doing a 'great job.' When asked about Apple, Warren Buffet said, "Steve Jobs has done a terrific job. And there will be companies that excel. And occasionally they will excel because of luck, but usually they excel because of brains." Bill is said to have agreed with Buffet saying, "Yes, I think both in general and in the specific, Apple's done a great job."

Are you kidding? Have you ever tried using a finger to take notes in an engineering class or draw with a finger vs a Wacom? Maybe you prefer finger-painting, but I vastly prefer stylus input over touch (and there's fewer fingerprints on the screen afterwords). As far as losing the stylus goes... I have never lost a stylus, it's not like it's that big of responsibility to treat things with some care and pay attention so you don't lose them. I guess if someone still has their mittens pinned to your jacket a stylus ownership could be an issue but I'll continue using a pen/stylus, like a big boy.
http://kordellnorton.com/wordpress/?p=42
It will be and it will suck.
Maybe he should ask students what they think and they will tell you that a stylus is a hassle and is one more thing you have to worry about misplacing.
Hey Bill... Why don't you try to simplify peoples lives for once?
While you wait for that I'll be waiting for my nano computer that interface directly with my brain. (my nerd's wet dream)
For one, people probably know how unreliable Microsoft was with the X-Box 360, and might pause before considering buying another "computer" from them.
But, mainly, when you make a computer that's supposed to take advantage of a modern PC, and then try to make it ideal for a tablet, you're going to have compromises somewhere that will probably make it non-competitive with something made specifically for each platform.
Windows 7 isn't ideal for a tablet, and they won't win if they try to shoehorn it in, while Apple and Google are making more device specific operating systems for their smaller devices. I think they should make it look as much like Windows 7 as possible, so people are comfortable finding things, but the underlying technology has to be a lot smaller and efficient, not just a desktop operating system with minor modifications to run on very, very different hardware.
That's just an update of the long proposed RS-232 port at the base of the skull.
Are you kidding? Have you ever tried using a finger to take notes in an engineering class or draw with a finger vs a Wacom? Maybe you prefer finger-painting, but I vastly prefer stylus input over touch (and there's fewer fingerprints on the screen afterwords). As far as losing the stylus goes... I have never lost a stylus, it's not like it's that big of responsibility to treat things with some care and pay attention so you don't lose them. I guess if someone still has their mittens pinned to your jacket a stylus ownership could be an issue but I'll continue using a pen/stylus, like a big boy.
as inconvenient as a stylus is, there are plenty of applications where a finger just doesn't get me the fidelity i need, it's the reason why we take notes with pens/pencils and not felt markers
TA152H
i'll agree the current hardware limits the functionality of tablet type devices, in fact it probably has been hardware that has been holding back this form factor, but i think every tech head's dream is a fully portable computing platform rather then some light weight cloud based portal device, hopefully the hardware needed for this is not so far off in the distant future (im hoping that bobcat will see the beginning of this trend, oh please let bobcat deliver some of this promise). Other than hardware, the real thing that cripples win7 as a tablet OS is the UI, and although the iPhone gave us swipe and pinch (which implementation wise was hit and miss, i loved the idea but it's not nearly as consistent as it should have been, there were times when i tried to swipe or pinch and it wasn't supported and i was left wondering why not) the iPad really didn't add any much more to the equation, you really need an OS to be touch aware and have this propagated down the app level (think of how the scroll wheel was adopted) swipe and pinch does not make for a complete touch expereince, the iPad is a stop gap solution
it does make for an interesting future, here's hoping that apple does not kill further development of tablet computing by use of it's closed OS and draconian controls
Apple has done in 2 weeks what Gates & Microsoft has been trying to do for almost 10 years! Make a usable tablet computer!
As we know... MS is most likely going to push Win7-Mobile for non-Apple tablets. Rather than a full blown Win7 OS.
Apple wins with iPad. But still loses in the Police raid of Gizmodo.
Yes, yes, thank you Microsoft. I've been saying this ever since people started discussing tablet pc's. To truly be able to create anything worthwhile and with real ease on a tablet you need a pen or stylus, preferably with Wacom like pressure sensitivity and MS's handwriting recognition. These few things combined would allow any tablet with them to stream ahead of anything else for people who are creative, or have a need to make and not just consume content.
If you think putting windows 7 on to a tablet is shoehorning, just have a better look at soft keyboards... why are we trying to keep keyboard like input on something which isn't designed to have a keyboard? writing on it like you do in a notepad (the paper type) would be much more comfortable and natural.
The world needs the greatest HEROES of all time to save us.
Sonya 'aka' The liberty
Don't be a fool. The point is that Microsoft are attempting to do a Stylus-based input method. Which I personally, and obviously a few people above, agree with. Taking notes with your finger just doesn't work that well. Might as well text yourself notes.
Apple took a phone and gave it a bigger screen. Big deal. Microsoft is actually trying to make an intuitive new system.