There are some people who just do not get it. Normally, this is not that big a deal because the only people they are capable of hurting is themselves. But in this day of blogging, everyone is a news reporter when it comes to tech, and therefore just about anyone can misinform the masses and have some influence on an otherwise unmolested market. This week, for some reason, there have been a slew of attacks on TabletPCs and digital inking in general. I have a lot of opinions on this sport and its growing popularity. One of these days I will write my own rant and get some of it off of my chest. For tonight, I am just going to comment on two, perhaps, critical reasons, that people just do not get it.

The first is this: handwriting recognition really does not matter. I almost never turn my handwritten notes into transcribed word documents. Most of the time, I ink on other Microsoft data artifacts, like my prof's PowerPoint Presentations of a week's lecture, or an email report from a colleague, or on the notes that came in the meeting notice. I also do not want to slow down my pace at taking notes in a meeting because I am concerned about the PC being able to transcribe my writing well. Additionally, I use a ton of symbols, shorthand, acronyms, and drawings that I can translate into things I understand, but will make no sense to a computer.

So a lot of the naysayers this week have been taking issue with TabletPCs because they do not recognize their hand-writing well. And I am saying it doesn't matter. At least half of us who use Tablets do not use this feature, or use it on a very limited basis. Even if it is true, it is not a sufficient reason to declare Tablets of zero value. How often does anyone transcribe their handwritten notes in a college course to a typewritten document? OK; so what does it matter? What I need is to have my notes in my digital notebook for my own personal reference. If I need someone else to read them, I will write a little neater, but I still am not going to transcribe them. I am going to send the notes, written in my own digital ink, directly to my team for consumption.

The second most prevalent argument that people have been lodging is cost. But the analyses are based on apples to oranges comparisons. No one has championed the use of a TabletPC as a desktop replacement for multimedia and gaming. People have championed a TabletPC platform for use as a business and work primary PC, or as a primary PC for a student. In those contexts, an analysis on their value-added must be based on the relative increases or decreases in productivity of the worker or student. In these contexts, Tablets must be compared to other business notebooks in the same **** or other laptops that are perceived as being suitable for student use.

I could go on and on about why Tablets are good (and eventually I will), but that would take days. For the time being, I will simply say that working and going to school on a TabletPC means that I do not need both my laptop and a paper notebook and pens, and post-its, and a calculator, and all of the other crap that litters the desks of the average cube-monster in America. I can also say that I paid the same for my notebook as I would have for a similarly spec'd PC with a similar minimal footprint.

No; a TabletPC would not be my primary PC at home. But that is because I play games, do tons of multi-media, and other things requiring more graphics processing power. But then, no other PC with an integrated graphics chip would either, which is a spec that characterizes most business notebooks anyway.

Let me also put in a plug for a topic that I will come back and deal with in more detail in a later post. People who do not use TabletPCs, are not suited to render reviews on TabletPCs; or MiDs, or UMPCs for that matter. I can not render decent reviews on fuel-efficient, tiny cars, because I do not drive them. When someone is in the market for a vehicle of that stripe, I responsibly refer them to someone else. If someone is in the market for a muscle car that has in excess of 300HP, then I can offer at least some common frame of reference. I know how such a vehicle is actually used on a day-to-day basis, so I can offer some perspective.

If you have not used a Tablet, extensively, then you are not qualified to say one Tablet is better than another. If you have not weighed the multiple variables that go into selecting the right Tablet for your use (screen-size, weight, construction material, utility features, ports, convertible or slate) then you do not know what parameters make for a good Tablet experience or not. If you can not identify the use-space in a person's work or personal life for any tablet, then you can not judge as to whether or not a Tablet will fit into a person's personal electronic schema or not.

Spending 3 days with a Tablet is not a long-term review. If you look around the 'WERKz, you will see most of my opinions are qualified by a time criteria. Initial impressions, short-term reflections, long-term reviews. Checking out a TabletPC, or any other device for that matter, for a three-day stint, makes a person qualified to provide exactly that...a 3-day review. I guess I would challenge TabletPC naysayers to spend a full semester with one in college or while taking a night **** Or 3 months with one at work.

Sorry; this turned into half of the rant that I did not want it to be. OK; so back to my main point. The problem is that most naysayers are evaluating the use of the TabletPC platform (and other loosely similar computing platforms as well) in direct comparison to other computers. Desktops, laptops, and so forth. But those devices are not the sum parts that get replaced by a TabletPC. They also replace pen, paper, books, document review processes, time management paradigms, approaches to learning in the ****oom, sharing methodologies in meetings, Post-it Notes, telephone message pads...I could go on. When you evaluate their usefulness, it can not be in simple comparison to GHz speeds of processors and GB of hard drive space. You have to ask yourself, how would a Tablet change the way that I work? How would it reduce the clutter on my desk? How much better of a manager or worker would I be if every written memo and "note to self" that I generated were in one place? What if I could write a note on this Power Point Brief and send it back to Frank X for updating?

The take-away from this is that there are radicals on both sides of this line. People who are passionately for or against the Tablet form-factor. Just like there are people who firmly believe in or hate iPods; or Windows PCs; or Ford's. As long as you recognize that in your consumption of content on the web, you will be ok. I will say that no one can tell a person whether or not a TabletPC is right for them. I can tell you why a TabletPC is right for me, or what activities I think it helps out, and computing uses where I think it is not the best device. I can tell you how I use it. People need to determine for themselves whether or not these things are the best platform for them given their life****and work-****

If you can, borrow one. There are companies on the web who have loaner programs for you to try them out. Get some hands on time and really give it some thought.

OK, 'nuff said. Good night.
- Vr/Zeuxidamas