Microsoft's portable device

[bbloke]

As some of you may have heard, there have been rumblings about a project from Microsoft named "Origami." Some have speculated this will be a potential iPod-killer, while others allege it will be more like a tablet PC. There have also been some sites which purport to have links to insider images or footage, such as theunofficialmicrosoftwebblog and Kevin 2.0. The video footage no longer seems to be present at the URL cited, but I believe I have found the same video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV1WG...ject%20origami

It's interesting, but, to me, it is too cumbersome and not as elegant as I would have expected (if Microsoft were to improve their game a little in the face of Apple's design work). Then again, I thought the PSP might be too unwieldy to catch on for games on the go!

[limike28]

I have seen the video, and it's relatively interesting if true. However, it seems like a device that may be looking for a market. If it stays in the current form factor of the device in the video it won't really be an ipod killer. (unless you drop it on an ipod). In a way it looks like a device that wants to do everything, but none of them particularly well. We shall see.

[tbenning]

First off, the origami is the 2006 version of the Newton. Remember the marketing videos?

Most importantly, did you notice the Mac mini in the video? Approximately 10 seconds into the video, when the actress plugs in her guitar and changes the amp volume, right below the amp is a Mac mini. It is very blurry, but there is no mistaking the Apple logo and ports on the back of the mini. Check it out.

BTW - I don't take credit for catching this. A buddy of mine saw it and pointed it out to me.

Tim

[ksv]

Originally Posted by tbenning

First off, the origami is the 2006 version of the Newton. Remember the marketing videos?

Most importantly, did you notice the Mac mini in the video? Approximately 10 seconds into the video, when the actress plugs in her guitar and changes the amp volume, right below the amp is a Mac mini. It is very blurry, but there is no mistaking the Apple logo and ports on the back of the mini. Check it out.

BTW - I don't take credit for catching this. A buddy of mine saw it and pointed it out to me.

Tim

I noticed there's a dock on the display as well.
Also, some UI elements on the device look remarkably similar to Apple's. Not that Microsoft isn't known for borrowing Apple's concepts, but it still made me think for a second that Apple is involved.

[Lt Major Burns]

you mean, like this?

[fryke]

Well, that's probably the usual case of media-company uses Macs - even when working for Microsoft... I just have to say: I'd _hate_ Microsoft to succeed with Sculley's dream of the knowledge navigator... And I truly hope that _if_ there's ever something like the Newton again, that it's done by Apple...

[Thank The Cheese]

first off, lime green? LIME GREEN?

but aside from ugliness, it looks like a great little gadget. I don't really know anything much about it (the commercial is pretty vague). It's one thing to be ABLE to do all these funky things, but it's another to actually DO IT. I think it all comes down to the user interface and stability. The Xbox 360's UI is pretty impressive, so hopefully MS have employed the same team.

Personally, I don't think there is a market for the origami, but I could be wrong. Hopefully it will be capable of everything the PSP, but without the restrictions and proprietary hard and software. Depends on the price tag too.

As a side note, is MS really in a position to be releasing such an ambitious product? They're all over the place at the moment, all while working on Vista.

[Lt Major Burns]

it runs windows. end of story.

i also moonlight in a bar at weekends, and we got new till registers to replace the archaic 10 year old systems we had before.

i saw the boxes they came in the week before they were installed. they said on the side "Built using Windows XP Technology"

"oh for F*cks Sake..."

i thought, perhaps they aren't that bad, i mean it's not as if they'll be running windows xp with IE and the start button or anything...

4 weeks on, and i have never seen so many fundamentally bad problems occurring with them.

for example, if you have more than 2 tills functioning and switched on (i.e. when it's busy, at a weekend), then they all start hanging for random periods of up to 5 minutes. it takes longer than that to reboot, so we have to wait there.

one till wouldn't let us change the pricing back from the "new" prices *it* decided. tech support didn't know how to fix that, but it fixed itself randomly a week later.

the main till that they are all networked to decided to crash badly. we havent been able to get a proper set of takings figures at all for about a week now.

one till likes to reboot itself randomly. this is inexplicable, and as mentioned before, they have a rough 10 minute boot cycle.

they are without a doubt the worst system i have ever had to come into contact with. i'd laugh but it makes my job harder. the old system *worked*, and it was much simpler to use as well, but still manged to do everything we do now. in fact there things we can't do now, like get itemised takings etc...

i bloody hate XP technology. they are the the flakiest, shoddy, most fragile computers i've ever seen.