Technology, Innovation, Life and other Random Thoughts from Fred
I am finding an interesting use for Twitter at a conference. Normally I would be taking notes during the sessions. Instead, I am just tweeting the interesting points. Then, back in my room, I can pull up all my tweets for the day, and POOF – there are my notes for the day.
I think I may write a OneNote add-in to import my tweets to save them as my notes 🙂
So, on to my current Tablet PC setup. I am currently using a Motion Computing LE1600 running Vista Ultimate, Office 2007 (including OneNote) and MindManager Pro 6. I have loved this computer since the day I got it. It is obvious that I have a preference for slate tablets. The work that I do on a tablet is in tablet mode. I also have a laptop for doing development and other high load actvities, so I guess I am spoiled (though it is a pain carrying both around when I travel). The way I use my tablet at work is this:
Really the only complaint I have ever had with my LE1600 is with the power connector. Very early on, the connector where the power supply plugs into the tablet developed connection problems, to the point that the unit will not charge or run off AC. This ceased to matter when I got the spare battery and charger, but was part of my reason for doing so. I should point out that I had the exact same problem with my TC1000 – I had it repaired twice by Compaq, and it always came back. it just seems to be an inherent problem with a computer you are moving around like a tablet (I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had similar problems with other brands of tablet).
There are other applications which I have used with the tablet, but OneNote and MindManager are the main ones. What would I like to see? As I said before, better ink support in Office, IE, and in Windows in general would be great (yes, Vista is an improvement, but the ink support still feels like it is pasted on top of the “real” mode of interaction – I do not know what “better” looks like, or I would have written it!). I would also like to see more ink-aware applications. I think there have been two big challenges to this in the past – one being the development support on the tablet, and the second being marketing of the tablet platform in general. I will not get into either of these now, I think both warrant their own posts. I would also like to see improved voice input on the tablet – I would love to be able to just dictate documents into Word or PowerPoint, and have the results be worth the effort. This has come a long way in the last few years, but does not seem to be quite there yet.
There are several very cool tablet accessories out there, some of which I have tried and just never gotten round to buying. One worth mentioning is InkGestures from Jumping Minds. I suspect I will buy a copy of this as soon as there is a version for Word 2007.
As I said before, I am a really big fan of Tablet PCs. They fulfill a vision I had almost 20 years ago about what a great form factor for a personal computer would be. So, I thought I would talk a bit about my experiences with Tablets.
My first Tablet PC was a Compaq TC1000 that I got back in 2003. Despite the fact that it was pretty underpowered for what I do, I absolutely loved it. Well, maybe that is not entirely true. At first, I found it a little awkward, and I found some aspects of it disappointing. I was mostly disappointed about how hard it was to do everyday things like wirte a Word document or create a presentation by writing and having it convert to text.
What I ended up doing was to get rid of all my other computers. I had no desktop computer, no laptop, and I even got rid of my keyboard for a while. I worked this way for about 6 months. What this forced me to do was to learn how best to accomplish my work in a tablet environment.
The first thing I learned is that converting writing to text was not the best way to work on the tablet (at least not for what I do). Microsoft OneNote became my number one application. Much of my work relates to research, idea generation, and meetings, and OneNote has been the centre of it for 4+ years now. I have also been using MindJet’s MindManager for several years now, and I use it almost as much as OneNote.
I also learned that I had to break out of our modern tendancy to format things as we go. I know that I have always had a tendancy to try to make things pretty as I go. The tablet has forced me to focus on getting ideas down – dumping my thoughts, so to speak. Then, if I convert it to text at some point, I can edit and format it (actually, if I am smart, I pass it on to someone much more adept than I am at making things pretty).
My biggest disappointment has been (and remains) the lack of integration of pen interaction with the main tools in office work – Internet Explorer and the Microsoft Office suite. It should be much simpler to do simple things like create a document, edit a spreadsheet, send an eMail, perform a web search, without reverting to the TIP (which I hate, for the most part). It should also be easier for a left handed person to work (why is OneNote the only Office application that lets you switch the scroll bar on the left hand side?)
That’s all for now – in my next post I will talk about my current setup, and things I would like to see in the Tablet PC world.
FredSpace 