Butler Lampson

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• Butler Lampson
• Microsoft
• August 4, 2004

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Tablet PC Revolutionary Tool or Etch-a-Sketch?

• Butler Lampson
• Microsoft
• August 4, 2004

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Why tablets?

• Mobility
• Reading
• Pen
• Pointing
• Writing
• Sketching
• Gestures
• Make the computer natural

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History

• Dynabook (1968)
• Workslate, TRS-80 (1982)
• Lectrice (1996) originally for reading 8K
• Pen Windows/ Go
• Palm / Pocket PC
• Win CE Clio

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Alan Kays Dynabook mockup (1968)
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Convergent Workslate (1982)
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TRS-80 Model 100 (1983)
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DEC SRC Lectrice (1994, 8k)
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Lessons from past failures

• A tablet must be a full PC. Why?
• Must have volume to keep cost down
• Users need to run full apps
• Dont want two gt1k computers
• Dont want to carry two bulky things
• Lampsons law Devices must differ in size by 5x
• Watch
• Cellphone
• Tablet/laptop
• Desktop
• Being a full PC is hard
• And its a moving target

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Slogans

• The power of the PC, the simplicity of paper
• Grab and go
• Think in ink
• Every laptop is a tablet
• Tablet PC, the first computer good enough to
  criticizeAlan Kay

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Prerequisites for success

• Hardware
• Display 120 dpi, good viewing
• Digitizer 120 dpi, hover
• Wireless networking
• Ultralight laptop engineering
• Cycles and RAM for handwriting, speech
• Software
• UI compatibility all kbd, mouse actions
• No changes to base platform
• Handwriting recognition
• Cleartype for reading
• Decent scribbling application

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Todays tablets

• NEC Excellent slate, except for battery life
• Motion Good slate, part of good system
• Toshiba Excellent convertible

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NEC Litepad (2003, 2.2 lb)
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Motion M1400 (2004, 3 lb)Grab and Go
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Toshiba M200 (2004, 4 lb)Convertible
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Natural UI The guessing game

• Computer UI My way or the highway
• Input is unambiguous
• Its your fault if the wrong thing happens
• Natural UI Ambiguousmachine must guess
• What if it guesses wrong?
• New requirements
• I can tell what it guessed
• I can undo any state changes from a wrong guess
• I can say what I wanted in another way
• Perhaps clunkier, but less ambiguous

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Lessons from V1 Tablet PCs

• The biggest threat to development Creativity
• Keeps people from focusing on essentials
• UI design is hard
• Even the best people need many iterations
• Example TIP
• Its easy to overreach
• The guessing game is hard
• Examples Journal and OneNote
• Microsoft doesnt understand images
• Why Tablet PC doesnt integrate PDF
• Importance of ergonomicshard for OEMs

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Hardware futures

• Display
• Quality reflections, resolution, parallax,
  contrast
• Size smaller
• New technologies eInk
• Digitizer
• Cost
• Calibration
• Better integrated keyboard
• Ride laptop evolution
• Battery life
• Weightless than 2.5 lbs.
• Ruggedespecially for K12

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Software futures

• Pen
• Gesturesproofreader marks show whats possible
• Math input
• Sketch recognition
• Ink annotation auto reflow
• Speech audio input the biggest problem
• Natural language commands
• Display
• Smaller UI issues
• Recruiting local projector, other screens
• Camera/scanner needs image processing
• Seamless networking, disconnected operation

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Vertical applications

• Health care
• Just what doctors need
• Many system issues, however
• Education
• Are computers any good for education
• Or is it just for cheap textbooks

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Revolution through evolution

• Changes are incremental
• Market is still small ltlt 1 of Windows
• Few tablet-specific apps
• Mostly small tweaks to existing apps
• But its a different relationship to the computer
  
• Much more intimate
• Much closer to the physical world
• In the end, big changes

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The future is bright, but cloudy

• Tablet vs cellphone
• Phone will integrate GPS, PDA, music, camera
• Reading is unclear screen size
• Writing is even less clear reading plus speech?
• Tablet vs laptop
• Every laptop a tablet?
• Weight vs screen size vs power tradeoffs
• Tablet vs people
• Natural input
• Computing at your fingertips