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| Home | Features | DMA® Info | About | Vol 27 Issue 12 May 2003 |
Cover Story - Microsoft Mobility in ActionPresented by William Steel e By Edwin Davidson, Acting co-editor, The DataBus I was most impressed the first time, I was introduced to the Tablet PC. I know many people who went to COMDEX and the APCUG conference last fall were not all that impressed, but it might have been a problem with the environment. I saw the Tablet PC for the first time last fall when William Steele gave a very impressive demonstration of this device. He has been most gracious in agreeing to give us all a demo of the Tablet PC, Pocket PC, and the Pocket PC Phone Edition when Microsoft is getting ready to promote the SmartPhone. As always, Microsoft is hard at work trying to find the best way to help integrators and users with three key groups. Microsoft Mobile Device News, Pocket Watch Newsletter, and Microsoft Windows Embedded DevWire are the trio of newsletters geared to people trying to figure out how to use these new technologies. Microsoft Mobile Device News is focused more on getting general information out to users and engineers who are trying to integrate work tasks. The Pocket Watch Newsletter is giving promotions and giving ideas to make use of your new work and play toys. Microsoft Windows Embedded DevWire is aimed at developers making applications for integrating all of these different tools that are used in today's workplace. The Tablet PC is just the tip of the iceberg. The Pocket PC and the
Pocket PC Phone Edition, along with the Windows Powered SmartPhone,
are all part of the Microsoft Mobility in Action. Running out of paper will become a thing of the past. You can now take
all of your notes along with drawings, and most things you can put to
a simple pad of paper can be saved electronically in the various handheld
devices you can carry. The Microsoft Windows Journal Viewer allows anyone
with Windows XP or Windows 2000 to view any documents made with the
Tablet PC, which can be downloaded at http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx? This is just the beginning of the mobile family. Between the Pocket PC and the Pocket PC Phone Edition, you can get integration while using just one hand. The infrared and other tools to integrate to a full PC means that you don't have to take a laptop if you have little need for copious notes. Communication can be more important than copious notes and the integration that can only happen when personal communication intervenes and coordinates the imagined with the real. Email, the phone, and text messages are now a real part of the workday, and the easiest way to send messages are with shortcuts that you can use with these Microsoft-empowered tools.
The SmartPhone includes Pocket Outlook, Pocket Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger and Windows Media Player. And I was thinking I wanted to carry around a big old laptop. This makes use of many needed tools at your fingertips (thumb tip?). Yes, from the Pocket PC through the SmartPhone, it's all geared up to be used with only one hand. Some shorthand coding helps with the one hand operation. I am not sure what all of the differences are between the Pocket PC and the SmartPhone but I am sure we will all find out. Use voice, SMS text messaging, email, or instant messaging to communicate
depending on your situation or environment. Integrated telephony and
wireless connectivity mean the choice of communication is yours. The
SmartPhone keeps you in touch in many different ways. The unified inbox
and synchronization can connect over the air and then integrates with
your home or office PC. This sounds like a new way to communicate. Yes,
we are moving into a new age where people want to stay awake 24/7. It's
2:47 a.m., should I call Bill and tell him we are ready to see what
all the mobile toys can do? OK, I can wait and so can everyone reading
this, but let's give William Steele, and Microsoft's Mobile Tools, a
warm DMA® welcome.
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The Windows XP set of security protocols along with the Office XP set
of tools bring about what you will need to make the Tablet PC work.
Save a note in your own handwriting, or convert it to a text document.
This sounds easy enough but it is William's demo that made me want a
laptop computer for the first time. You do not need all of the office
tools with the SmartPhone or the Pocket PC Phone, but if you want to
get the improved security, you will want Windows XP. 
I
like my computer on a desk, but even now I have stored away my old three-watt
auto phone and have donned the more convenient pocket phone. It is not
without some weight, but even I didn't want to carry the three-watt
phone around. The three-in-one concept has been laid to waste by the
five-in-one concept, and although they are a little heavier, this seems
to make sense. Phone, Web browser, PDA, text messaging, plus Paging
device is one way to stay compact (Ok, they don't list the Paging; with
a phone, do you need one?). They're somewhat larger than the smallest
of phones, but big in deliverable services. Microsoft is not saying
that these are PDAs, but they are doing the major work of a PDA with
the wireless connection. I still think this is the toy for those people
who don't know what to do with all of their copious free time, but they
are much easier to carry around than a laptop. The SmartPhone is tuned
into today's fast paced environment and can keep you connected wherever
you are with a very small footprint. | DMA® Home | Computerfest® | Copyright Statement | ||
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