It is the summer. Time for things to return. The blockbuster movie. Ice Cream cones. Bikinis. E3 in its regular format. WWDC and Computex. It is also apparently time to revisit some of my favorite tech topics, as I've been getting a lot of questions about TabletPCs and Smartphones.

One of the neatest things compounding the effect of the rekindled interest in my own tech that the questions generate is the fact that it is also the time of year that new tech announcements are also creeping out. So while I am (somewhat) busy pulling past blog posts and conducting current market research, I am having a good time catching up on the state of the portable market that I have become less observant of in the last few months. I will not be covering the gamut of opinions this topic covers, but over the next few days will be commenting on different pieces of the pie.

First and foremost on my mind as of late has been revisiting why I believe in the TabletPC platform, and how I use it.

I have been using pen-based computing devices for nearly ten years now. So much so that, perhaps unfortunately, I consider them a necessity.

Whenever a co-worker who is going back to school or a parent with a kid on the way to college asks about how confident I am in a TabletPC being the right thing for them or their kid, I am almost incredulous that anyone would ever ask.

Since I have decided to put off PHd work for a few years, I am taking a few courses to get more current in my present job. For the summer, that meant taking an entry-level course in Java Progamming. Back in school, my incredulity at the above question has been reinforced. Why in the world would anyone taking an academic course use anything but a TabletPC?

You have to take notes. You will likely be doing your homework on a PC. These days it is even likelier that you will be doing it on a laptop. To me it is a no-brainer that it is most effective to do both on one device. Having a notebook with paper that becomes ragged after a few months of use vice a digital notebook makes little sense to me. Nor does it make sense to me to type those notes in the middle of a lecture and be further distracted while in class rather than using the more natural form of note-taking in written format.

A second reason that I find a TabletPC an effective platform is that it increases my level of organization. While using Microsoft OneNote (or other digital ink-based apps of choice) is not restricted to the TabletPC platform or OS, it seems more intuitive to use it with a TabletPC platform. With all of my notes, tasks, contacts, Side Notes, Meeting Minutes and so forth organized on one platform, predominantly in one app, my overall effectiveness certainly feels greater than it does without. With OneNote, I am able to keep all of my role-based knowledge (student, manager, engineer, person) organized in a single app and single file.

It may just be a matter of style, or personal like. I am certainly not going to say that every person is or should be like I am and therefore should be using a TabletPC. There are some cons to the platform and I will be commenting on those later this week.

I can only say that I would be lost without mine, both at work and at school. I've tried weaning myself off of the platform, and not using one for months at a time. I always come back and I am pretty much done fooling myself. It is unfortunate that there is not a check-out program where you could check out a demo. Actually, there is (over at Allegiance Technology Partners), and I wish more people would try one out before passing negative judgments against the platform without having use done.

There are a lot of nay-sayers to the TabletPC platform, even amongst the technorati.

I think most of the negative feedback is due to cost, when considered in comparison to the cost of a traditional laptop. For this detractor, I have no push-back. I do not mind the people who say that they will never buy them. I do, however, take difference with those who go past that line and declare the devices useless or of no value. Those are the people who actually need to put their hands on one for 48 hours and really use one before they attempt to declare them useless.

Even after that, they can say that they are useless all they want. Regardless, it is clear that there is a market for these computing platforms driven by their use when deployed. My two main drivers for always wanting one of these in my inventory are just the tip of the iceberg. Tons of people are out there using these things for both vertical market needs and everyday use.

My only regret is that I do wish more people would use them so that the prices would come down. (sigh)...the price of being a nerd I guess. Until next time, enjoy computing...

- Vr/Z.