It's Getting Rough Out There

I was on the Tablet PC team before any OEMs had any of the tablet hardware that's is available to the market. As a result, we had hired a company to make prototype units for us. They were thin, slate models that were actually pretty cool. That is, they were cool when they worked. They were true protoypes. But walking around with the forced slate model really made us think about where and how the pen (and ultimately, touch) input would be used, as opposed to standard mouse and keyboard.

Note-taking and annotation were the "big-bets" Microsoft made in the first few years, and these are truly viable scenarios. I wondered further, though, partly because I was a reasonably quick typist and partly because I had become adept enough at Office products to know how to make comments and show annotation with a keyboard. What really piqued my curiosity are the places where pen and touch are indispensible. Ever see anyone try to type on a laptop on an elevator? Once a person stands, the keyboard is awkward, at best. And who really wants to take out their $1500 notebook in the field...a real field. Most notebook's cannot handle a lot of rain or a drop from more than two feet. Imagine if a real estate agent needed to look up an easement on the fly.  Or a construction manager, dairy farmer, lobster fisherman, wine-maker, soccer coach, yacht broker, EMT, store manager, astronaut, well, you get the idea.

 Which is, I suppose a long way of saying that it warms my heart to see hardware like the Duo Touch II ruggedized Tablet PC that General Dynamics Itronix released. Not specific to any industry, this computer boasts:

• Easy switching between active digitizer and passive touch digitizer 
• Intel Core Duo processer
• Up to 2GB of RAM
• EVDO
• 802.11 a/g/n
• Bluetooth
• Up to 3 RF modems and GPS at the same time

But on top of that, it's magnesium-alloy case, water seal, HazLoc certification, and other rugged goodies means that not only can it be used in and on the field...you can use it as second base.