I debated about pointing to this article because at first glance it isn't particularly wonderful news for the Tablet PC enthusiasts. However, I firmly believe different perspectives and opinions should be discussed openly and honestly. To expand on my opinion, I believe that discussing divergent viewpoints can actually lead to a convergence of ideas and therefore is a good thing and never bad.

So, without further delay ... I'd recommend that you read the article titled Acer concedes tablet computer isn't catching on and decide for yourself whether you agree or disagree with the author, Acer's position, or Microsoft's position. Maybe you have a different vantage point and can appreciate, understand, or not understand the importance of this article.

As a member of the Tablet PC jury, What say ye?

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Insane Politics

I didn't see the article as negative. I thought the title was poor and the journalistic slant a bit biased probably because of the articles since early May.

Realistically, changes take time. What we have here is a clash between the hardware world and the software world and what these two groups expected and needed.

The hardware world is certainly used to making changes frequently and responding to a demanding set of buyers. We also know that many manufacturers were severely burned in the last few years. The "digital home" is a huge controversy because if PCs are real appliances then they have to be supported differently, the rate of change has to be different, complimentary products have to be more mature, etc.

Many changes could happen at a snap. It takes cooperation between several tiers of industry companies, employee drive, follow-through, and money.

I could re-write that article with a different twist:

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Acer Inc., a key backer of the tablet PC, conceded that it may be years before the concept catches on. The company cited a lack of applications to drive adoption and the need to shrink the price premium tablets now command over standard notebook PCs.

Today, Acer reviewed it's longterm plan for Tablet PCs. Acer has two clear plans. One, it is creating a new Independent Software Vendor (ISV) program to support new Tablet PC specific applications. Second, Acer plans to increase research support so that Tablet PCs can fully replace traditional notebooks without a cost premium.

OK - so that is very rough, but you get the idea. It's the exact same things, just with a different bias. Both are what is happening. One just sells better;)

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