Since Apple introduced the first Macintosh computer in the mid eighties, there’s been no significant change to the way people interact directly with PCs: the mouse/keyboard/menu interface has hardly evolved at all in over 20 years. When you consider the other advances in computing in the same period, this seems fairly remarkable.
I’ve been convinced for some time that Microsoft’s Tablet PC concept offers the best chance of breaking this mould. Progress to date has been slow. In the past few months I’ve become satisfied that the current XP tablet platform offers significant benefits, but I can understand why it hasn’t yet broken through to the mainstream.
However, PDC offered/confirmed lots of new information about Microsoft’s plans for the tablet, particularly for Windows Vista and Office 12: see this post from Warner Crocker for a pretty good round-up. I’m pretty excited by all this - I think it brings the inevitable Tipping Point (should that be “TIPping Point”?) for tablets a great deal closer. Personally, I can’t wait.
As well as bringing a sea change in personal computing, the Tablet PC should also offer Microsoft a new lease of life. The company desperately needs this paradigm shift to open up the gap between itself and the Open Source movement which is banging on its door. Microsoft has been pouring research dollars into the tablet for years - this investment could well be about to bear fruit, leaving its competitors in the dirt.