Origami Sucks and Microsoft is Doomed

So Microsoft finally unveiled their Origami project today.

Basically it's a big fat heavy PDA, and they seem to think that the fact that it runs a slightly different version of Windows is somehow noteworthy. The 7 ich screen is too big to make it a worthwhile PDA or portable gaming platform (which it most definitely isn't) and too small for people to want to use it to watch movies with. The touch screen interface basically assumes that all people do is poke around the web and click 'next' on their mp3 player program all day. In reality most people spend their time emailing or chattting or blogging or actually working, and using one of those stupid pens or other non-keyboard input devices will cause frustration for anyone wanting to actually do anything useful

Microsoft have once again shown that their only niche is to copy other people's innovations, poorly. In this case they stupidly tried to occupy 3 or 4 different markets with one device, producing something that is mediocre-to-awful for any one of those tasks.

The other problem is that you can't actually go out and buy one of these things now. There isn't even a real "thing" yet, this is just a spec that hardware manufacturers are now expected to implement, just like the 'media centre' idea which has taken off so well. (*cough*). YOu think Microsoft would understand that had they just produced an OS platform and reference spec for a game system, rather than build the X-Box, that it would be a long-dead memory in the minds of the gaming press rather than a major force in the games market.

When apple unveils a product you can go right to the Apple store and order it, even if it isn't shipping yet, there's still an 'it' that people see and can buy. This Origami thing is just too much confusino for most people. The fact that there isn't a manufacturer for the North American market yet doesn't help matters.

What I wanted this thing to be was a 12-14 inch flat screen with a little either fold out or detachable keyboard and a little stand that would let you prop it up and use it like a laptop. With a flash drive or other silent, low-power storage and wireless networking of course. That would be the perfect device for a student to use to take notes in a full day's worth of courses without having to find an electrical outlet after the first two classes drained a typical laptop's batteries, and it would take up less space in a backpack as well.

This thing isn't a threat to either the PSP, the iPod, the Mac Mini or the iBook, and will probably fade away within a couple of months when no hardware maker announces any real products.
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