Transcript: Tablet PC, April 13, 2004
Published: August 22, 2004
Chat Date: April 13, 2004
Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity
Introduction
Moderator: Andrew (Microsoft)
Hi everyone, and welcome to the Tablet PC chat!
Moderator: Andrew (Microsoft)
Today we are answering your questions about Tablet PC.
Moderator: Andrew (Microsoft)
Now, I'll have our hosts for the chat today introduce themselves:
Moderator: Andrew (Microsoft)
I'm Andrew Brown, and I'm the MVP Lead for Tablet PC, and the moderator for this chat.
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Hello - I'm Arin Goldberg - ISV Architect on the Tablet PC Team
Host: Chris_H (Microsoft)
Tablet PC MVP, and enthusiast. Very happy to be Inking!
Host: Sears_Young (Microsoft)
Hi, I'm Sears Young. I work in the OEM Support Group focusing on Tablet PC.
Host: VictoriaKruse (Microsoft)
Welcome to the chat! I'm a Program Manager on the Tablet PC Sustained Engineering team.
Moderator: Andrew (Microsoft)
Go ahead and begin posting questions in the bottom window, and we'll get the chat underway.
Start of Chat
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: Is there any prerelease info on Lonestar, so I may begin preparing my development plans now?
A: Lonestar is part of the Windows XP SP2 release. This will be available during the summer. We are currently running a beta program. If you'd like to join the Beta, please email tabbeta@microsoft.com
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: Is an email to that ISV whatever address still the best way for folks to get the alpha sdk?
A: The SDK is now in Beta. The email address to join the Beta is tabbeta@microsoft.com.
Host: Chris_H (Microsoft)
Q: I love OneNote - are there any plans to include it by default in the Tablet PC OS?
A: OneNote is a member of the Office family of products, and not just for Tablets. It also runs on desktops and laptops.
Host: VictoriaKruse (Microsoft)
Q: Are there any other software programs outside of the Office suite (like OneNote) that we can look forward to from MS for TPC's?
A: Besides inking features in Office Suite and instant messaging applications, nothing has been announced.
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: can’t make the upper side of the pen work as an eraser (for example in One Note). It takes the shape of the eraser but does not work. Nor in journal. Thx.
A: As long as you are using a pen that has an eraser end. You should be able to use the eraser side to erase, but you may need to press harder than the non-eraser side.
Host: VictoriaKruse (Microsoft)
Q: Will OneNote have a zoom feature so that I can zoom in write text and when I zoom to normal mode the text is a reasonable size?
A: I don't think they've announced such a feature, but we will forward the suggestion on to the OneNote team. Thanks!
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: Is there any way to access the actual speech commands programmatically - I'm using the Speech API and cannot find API to access 'What can I say' type commands on the Tablet
A: Sorry, The "What Can I Say commands" on a Tablet do not expose an public API.
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: Does Microsoft have any funding for external development of tablet software?
A: While I can't offer direct funding of a development project. If you have a product that you are developing, we would be happy to hear about it. Please email tabisv@microsoft.com
Host: VictoriaKruse (Microsoft)
Q: are there plans to add additional options to styli in the future (i.e. second button)?
A: The operating system supports additional buttons. You'd have to ask the particular manufacturers what they're planning in that area.
Host: VictoriaKruse (Microsoft)
Q: Does a Tablet PC use more battery power than a regular laptop, due to the digitizer?
A: I believe most Tablet PCs have longer battery life than standard laptops. The digitizer does use power, though not a lot.
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: is anyone working on the Tablet systems for ARGCS (DOD proposal etc.) ?
A: I'm not sure if any Tablet Manufacturer supports the Agile Rapid Global Combat Support System, we do have several hardware vendors that are making MIL spec'd ruggedized tablets. You should check with the hardware vendors.
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: Is there a large difference in the hard drive rpm from TPC manufacturers? I read complaints regarding Motion at 4200 but I haven't seen specs of others.
A: As with most mobile devices, the standard hard drive speed is 4200 RPM, this doesn't mean that you can run a faster drive. There are several vendors that are offering 7200 RPM drives with their tablets.
Host: VictoriaKruse (Microsoft)
Q: Is there a way to the an O/S screen capture without the keyboard? Trying to use the pen to hit ctrl/prnt scr on the TIP keyboard makes the screen I am trying to capture go away because it is losing focus.
A: You can use the Snipping Tool (Tablet PC Power Toy) to capture portions of the screen. If you need the whole screen, there are several 3rd party applications that trigger screen captures through various methods.
Host: Sears_Young (Microsoft)
Q: Getting my Motion 1400 in about 10 days. Will OneNote allow me to take my meeting agenda from email and take notes over it during the meeting, then export my action items and convert them into tasks in Outlook 2003?
A: OneNote supports copy/paste, so what you can do is open your Calendar appointment, copy the agenda, and paste it into OneNote. If there are specific action items that you've written within your note, you can select the item, and drag/drop it onto the Outlook Tasks button, and that should automatically open up a new task with the recognized content of your selection. This isn't limited to Tablet PC and ink (aside for the recognition part), so you could always download the 60 day trial and install it on your desktop to start learning some of the new features. (http://www.microsoft.com/office/onenote/prodinfo/trialoffer.mspx)
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: Is anything being done to get more TPC's into potential consumer hands to really test them and see how they are?
A: Please take a look at our current demo days events at retail outlets: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/evaluation/demodays.asp
Host: VictoriaKruse (Microsoft)
Q: plans for releasing XP Tablet PC in Spanish? Thx.
A: You can get Spanish UI from the manufacturers that offer Tablet with the Windows Multilingual User Interface. It comes with the Iberian Spanish recognizer.
Moderator: Andrew (Microsoft)
The topic for the current chat is Tablet PC - please try to focus on this topic during our chat session. Thanks!
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: I have installed the Tablet PC SDK 1.7 but I am concerned about how applications built on this SDK will deploy to users without SP2.
A: Applications built with the 1.7 SDK will run on all machines (Win2K and above) except for non-Lonestar versions of the tablet PC. The reason for this is that there are changes to system files on the tablet that require the lonestar OS. If you are building an application that you plan on using 1.7 features, then the application will not run on a non-Lonestar Tablet PC.
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: If I am not using 1.7 features, can I apply a binding policy that will allow the application to bind to 1.5 on non-lonestar tablet pc's?
A: I'm trying to find the answer to this question, I'll post something to the newsgroups
Host: Arin_Goldberg (Microsoft)
Q: On the web, it says Lonestar (for Tablets) extends "context-sensitive support". Can you elaborate a bit on how that is accessed programmatically?
A: Context is supported in 2 ways. 1. the context Tagging tool (in the SDK). 2. Through the SetInputScope API. Please see the 1.7 SDK (Beta) for more details.
Host: Sears_Young (Microsoft)
Q: This "Lonestar" sounds cool - where can I go to find more info (other than Google)?
A: You can find more information about the release here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/evaluation/lonestar/default.asp. In addition, a public pre-release version of Service Pack 2 is available for download (SP2 includes "Lonestar").
Moderator: Andrew (Microsoft)
This concludes our Tablet PC chat for today. Thanks for coming, everyone!
Moderator: Andrew (Microsoft)
Please feel free to stay and continue to chat about Tablet PC or other Windows topics.
Host: Sears_Young (Microsoft)
Great questions! Thanks everyone.
For further information on this topic please visit the following:
Newsgroups: Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
Transcripts: Read the archive of past Windows XP chats.
Website: Visit the home page for Tablet PC
