Don't swallow the tablets
A FEW WEEKS AGO I WAS watching the BBC's coverage of Comdex, the world's most important IT trade show. Tablet PCs, it reported, were all the rage. Compaq, Fujitsu, Sotec, Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard were all showing them, but are they the next big thing or the next big flop?
As the commentator pointed out, the first tablet computers were Apple's Newton MessagePads. As the BBC speculated about the tablet PC's future, I looked down at my trusty, now vintage, Newton MessagePad 2100 (right top), ran my thumbs up and down the inside of my braces (actually I don't wear braces, but that's what you do when you're playing the 'grizzled old veteran') and said, 'Ain't gonna happen.'
In case you're not familiar with what Bill Gates (below) wants us to think is the next bit of must-have kit, tablet computers look like notebook computers without keyboards (although some of them do have a keyboard that folds underneath). Rather than typing, you write on the screen with a stylus. The computer then stores your notes as images or converts them to typed text using handwriting-recognition software.
This may sound like a fantasy, and if you're a doctor, or you write like one, handwriting-recognition software is probably not going to work for you. I have yet to get my hands on one of the latest tablet PCs or see statistics on their word-recognition accuracy. But the Newton achieved, as it claimed, more than 90 per cent accuracy. This still means you need to correct one in 10 words.
The Newton was supposedly a profitable product when Apple discontinued it. Rumours suggested its chief executive officer, Steve Jobs, had a problem with the operating system, not the handwriting-recognition software. I also don't believe the future of the tablet PC hinges on the accuracy of its handwriting software, although it may survive as a worthless tool computer-makers add to make people feel they are getting more for their money. When I bought my Newton I wanted to be able to take notes discreetly in meetings without the distracting sound of a keyboard. I also wanted my notes to be searchable. Lo and behold, that's exactly what tablet PC vendors are saying you can do with their new machines.
I, however, believe the tablet PC vendors' vision of the future is not going to happen. You'll find the reason why on your desk in the form of Post-It notes, notepads or diaries covered with doodles and addresses. When you make a note on paper, it is not just the words that help you remember what that note means: it is the visual context - the doodles, underlinings and arrows - in which those words are placed. When you spot that wrinkled Post-It note in a month's time, those doodles will help to remind you why you jotted down that address or phone number.
But when you translate those notes into cold, impersonal typewritten text, the context is lost unless you write a thorough explanation. That's something we tend to do when we're using a keyboard because most of us can type faster than we can write. Once you force yourself to handwrite thorough notes on a tablet PC, you lose the con-venience of just jotting something down - and it takes longer. All hail the Post-It note!
