(Note: this post was written in an airplane yesterday on my Tablet
PC): When Dana Epp
visited me recently, he got on my case because I didn't use my Tablet
for weblogging. Why not? Because the handwriting recognition was not
very good. Now, let me explain. First of all, this is the first blog
post that I've made completely with the use of a pen. For this, I am
using a pre-release version of the "Lonestar" update for the Tablet PC
(which will officially be called Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
2004).
So, why haven't I used the Tablet PC for text entry before? Because
my handwriting sucks and the first version of the Tablet PC has
trouble with it. Now, to be fair to the Tablet PC, the fact that it
recognizes anything at all is a major accomplishment. But, even if
your handwriting is recognized 95% of the time, it's frustrating to
use and slow. I keyboard at about 100 words per minute with nearly
100% accuracy (and without needing to look at my hands or think about
the act of inputing). Using a pen on today's Tablet PC is a long way
from that.
With Lonestar my inking frustrations are gone.
Lonestar is a free update to the Tablet PC. I installed it in
minutes on Friday. On top of my existing Tablet PC operating system. I
can even uninstall it. Why didn't I install it before? I didn't want
to mess up my machine. If that's you, get over your fear. This is a
HUGE upgrade for the Tablet PC. I can't repeat that enough. It made
this blog post possible.
Here's my experiences: handwriting recognition is now about 99.9%,
even with my bad handwriting. That alone makes writing much more
enjoyable (and fast). But, when a mistake does happen, then you really
see the innovations that have been made. First, the "TIP" (Tablet
Input Panel), which is where you enter your text, is completely new
and redesigned. The first thing I noticed is that the ink is smoother
and more responsive. That makes writing more like the experience on
paper.
The second thing I noticed is that my writing was being recognized
on the fly. As I write little tags appear underneath my writing with
the Tablet PC's best guess.
Then I noticed that there were some mistakes (hey, my handwriting
is bad!) "Holy crap," I said when I discovered that I could click on
the words and Lonestar gives you a bunch of choices. For instance,
when I wrote "crap" it translated that to "crop." So, I click on
"crap" and it gives me a bunch of best guesses to change it to. In my
experience so far this works on nine out of 10 mistakes.
So what about the times where it doesn't give you a good
suggestion? Well, you can either delete your try and try it again or
you can choose the closest and then correct it
character-by-character.
Some mistakes even get through into Word. Even here the TIP is much
better. Just highlight the mistake and re-ink what you want instead.
This is totally going to change the editing process. Now I can write
on the couch.
There are tons of other enhancements too. For instance, the TIP can
be set to float next to your cursor.
Anyway, just wanted to say this is a HUGE increase in Tablet PC
functionality. It's amazing how much better they've made the
experience of using a Tablet PC.
What does this mean for Microsoft? Well, I think we should change
our motto to "making it possible to compute anywhere at anytime." This
release dramatically puts Microsoft out front in the computing race.
No other platform has the ability to recognize my handwriting as well
as the Tablet PC now can.
Oh, tomorrow I'll start my ink
blog. Watch for it.
Grok Headline matches for Tablet PC 2004 Update Rocks My World
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traditional New Year messages to reflect on the events of 2004. Grok Description matches for Tablet PC 2004 Update Rocks My World GrokA matches for Tablet PC 2004 Update Rocks My World
Tablet PC 2004 Update Rocks My World
The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry:
