Microsoft launches tablet PC drive
C|Net | at | by Mike
Hoping to write a new chapter in the saga of pen-based computing, Microsoft on Thursday officially unveiled Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Executives representing more than 20 companies manufacturing devices using the software joined Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates here for the launch. Acer, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba are among the companies making the new tablet PCs, which are similar to notebook PCs. Most of the devices allow the input of data with a stylus in addition to or instead of a keyboard.
Microsoft and other software developers, including Autodesk, Corel and Groove, have either updated existing programs or released new applications to support the Tablet PC operating system. Microsoft, for example, released an update to Office XP that supports the Tablet PC software's handwriting and "inking" technologies. More sophisticated enhancements will come with Office 11 sometime next year.