Microsoft's Touted iPad Rival Courier Becomes Less Than Vapor 401
Kostya writes "The much discussed Courier two-panel tablet device from Microsoft is now even less than vaporware — now it's just plain dead. 'Microsoft execs informed the internal team that had been working on the tablet device that the project would no longer be supported.' While the Courier had never been officially announced as a supported product by Microsoft, it had generated a lot of discussion as what the iPad should have been."
Tablets are dead (Score:4, Funny)
Neither the iPad nor Courier have (or would have in the case of MS's canceled project) any real advantages when it comes to getting work done than a regular Netbook or Laptop. I can see the point of a low-priced tablet device, essentially a large, sturdy smartphone for a -low- price. But when it comes down to it, its quite stupid to pay more and get less of a product and that is what tablets currently are.
Where Is sopssa? Where is He? (Score:4, Funny)
Hold on, I think I hear someone backpedaling.
Touted? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:On the upside though... (Score:5, Funny)
Ya, it would have been nice to see Bing come out as a good competitor to Google, competition really does push everyone to improve... sucks that it had to die...
Oh, you meant the Courier? Ya, that thing was cool.
Re:Where Is sopssa? Where is He? (Score:1, Funny)
I think he's in a corner somewhere crying.
On the other hand (Score:4, Funny)
It was planned to only allow installation of one font, a certain typewriter font, to make it run faster and create a consistent branding.
This did not do well in focus groups, who showed a preference for being able to use Comic Sans and other fonts.
Re:Crazy conspiracy theory (Score:5, Funny)
The awesome thing about how Slashdot moderation works is your insane theory should make it to +5 in no time.
Excuse me while I grab some popcorn, this is like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
Re:Tablets are dead (Score:4, Funny)
" I thought that was madness when I first saw it"
please tell me she was watching 300.
"That is madness"
"This IS COMPUTING"
Re:Tablets are dead (Score:5, Funny)
Once upon a time, pet rocks sold hugely.
More sales does not equate to a more useful product.
More useful than what? It's more useful than a Microsoft Courier or a Palm Folio.
Re:Tablets are dead (Score:1, Funny)
Actually, screw mom, ....
Well, if you insist....
Re:Crap. (Score:5, Funny)
and your surprised?
It's just fine, thanks for asking. :)
Re:Tablets are dead (Score:5, Funny)
Re:On the upside though... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:On the upside though... (Score:1, Funny)
And those of us with two brain cells were hopeful that each brain cell would finally have their own screen. I guess I could sniff some glue and kill off one of my two brain cells. That would make me a prime candidate for the iPad.
Re:Tablets are dead (Score:2, Funny)
Re:On the upside though... (Score:5, Funny)
Why so they can cry on my shoulder about getting owned by Nintendo?
Re:Tablets are dead (Score:5, Funny)
The era of the geek driving computer development is dead: people want easy to use features, and Apple is giving it to them. The era of clock speed, bus speed and VRAM capacity being important for selling computers is over as well.
You're cra
[no I don't want to update Java]
zy. The modern des
[Fine, update Acrobat]
ktop and laptop computer is basically per
[shuddap Norton]
fect for users. There
[Yes, allow Acrobat to change this computer]
really isn't any way th
[What? So what if the HP driver crashed? I'm not printing]
e modern computer system could
[What do you mean the system needs to restart in 10 seconds?]
be any
Re:Crap. (Score:5, Funny)
It's just fine, thanks for asking. :)
Lucky. I could never get the rc scripts to run right, and if you have to run it manually after every restart, well, then it's not really a surprise daemon at all, is it?
Re:On the upside though... (Score:3, Funny)
The dual screen thing is very good idea. People still like closing their books and will want to close their electronic tablets too....
I like where you are going with this. So we have a device with a screen like an Ipad, but you can close it to protect the device. Then we have a second screen which can be used for input when the device is open. The only thing I see wrong is that even haptic input isn't that great. But, what if, instead of soft keys, we had hard keys, sort of mounted on a circuit board (a "board-key". if you like). Admittedly you'd lose the flexibility of dual screens but then again divided screens aren't always ideal, you could just have different sizes of single screens available depending on people's needs. It would then be a bit like a journal or a book that could take notes. Call it a "book-note" and you've got a really great marketing idea. You might even be able to sell them in the thousands.
Mistaken joke` (Score:4, Funny)
You can tell I don't follow MS much because I thought "In a world with walls or fences, who needs windows or gates." was just a clever joke. Turns out that it is paraphrasing an actual MS slogan. "For a world without walls, Windows".
That tells you everything you need to know about Microsoft. They don't even get the concept of basic construction. Either you have no wall and therefor nothing to place the window in, OR you create a big window and it becomes the wall itself. A window cannot exist without a wall.
They drink the koolaid deeply in Redmond.
Re:Tablets are dead (Score:1, Funny)
I caught them at CBGB's back in the 70's. They were awesome.
Re:On the upside though... (Score:4, Funny)
You mean like the iPad can with a $30 case that ads no weight or bulk to the device?
No weight and no bulk? What is it made out of, magic?