Friday, May 06, 2005
MIKE WENDLAND: Tablet's cool, but my heart is with Macs
A follow-up on the Mike Wendland Tablet PC story that started about 6 months ago.
Several of you might remember following the Mike Wendland (Detroit Free Press) story back in November of 2004. His first article pretty much slammed Tablet PC's. Then he demoed a Motion Tablet PC and was hooked. It was great story to follow.
Mike just posted an update that I thought everyone might find interesting. It revolves around Bill Gates noticing Mike's supposed switch from Mac to PC, and then Mike telling us why his heart is still devoted to the Mac. Apparently, Bill Gates used the M1400 VA as well.
"I wouldn't drive my wife's Honda to an interview with Bill Ford. So when Microsoft Chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates came to town last week, I didn't take my Mac PowerBook to my interview with him; I brought along a Tablet PC.
The model I have, a Motion 1400, is what's known as a slate tablet. It's less than an inch thick and has no keyboard, but it has a nice 12-inch screen that you write on with an electronic stylus.
Gates was impressed. "That's the same one I use," he told me as we sat down for our interview and I began scribbling notes on it, simultaneously recording our interview with a built-in Microsoft program called OneNote.
That's about all we said of my Tablet PC. What surprised me was how it apparently impressed Gates.
On Monday, at a meeting with business journalists in Seattle, he mentioned me by name and the fact that I brought my Tablet PC to the interview last Friday in Dearborn.
I was pleased at the mention. It was a wise move, I thought, and probably contributed to what was a free-flowing and insightful interview.
Then I started receiving e-mail inquiries from other journalists about Gates' remark."
Several of you might remember following the Mike Wendland (Detroit Free Press) story back in November of 2004. His first article pretty much slammed Tablet PC's. Then he demoed a Motion Tablet PC and was hooked. It was great story to follow.
Mike just posted an update that I thought everyone might find interesting. It revolves around Bill Gates noticing Mike's supposed switch from Mac to PC, and then Mike telling us why his heart is still devoted to the Mac. Apparently, Bill Gates used the M1400 VA as well.
"I wouldn't drive my wife's Honda to an interview with Bill Ford. So when Microsoft Chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates came to town last week, I didn't take my Mac PowerBook to my interview with him; I brought along a Tablet PC.
The model I have, a Motion 1400, is what's known as a slate tablet. It's less than an inch thick and has no keyboard, but it has a nice 12-inch screen that you write on with an electronic stylus.
Gates was impressed. "That's the same one I use," he told me as we sat down for our interview and I began scribbling notes on it, simultaneously recording our interview with a built-in Microsoft program called OneNote.
That's about all we said of my Tablet PC. What surprised me was how it apparently impressed Gates.
On Monday, at a meeting with business journalists in Seattle, he mentioned me by name and the fact that I brought my Tablet PC to the interview last Friday in Dearborn.
I was pleased at the mention. It was a wise move, I thought, and probably contributed to what was a free-flowing and insightful interview.
Then I started receiving e-mail inquiries from other journalists about Gates' remark."
