Year of the Linux tablet?

[phrostbyte]

Remember the keynote at CES? The Windows 7 tablet? Well it is dead, Jim.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/hewlett-packard-to-kill-windows-7-tablet-project/

Courier? One of the more innovative examples of techn^H^H^H^H^H vaporware from Redmond? Well looks like it started to rain.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/29/microsoft-confirms-kills-courier-in-one-fell-swoop/

What does this all mean? It means Microsoft yet again has its pants down. It seems Microsoft is getting pushed out of this market and quickly. This is an opportunity for the competition to shine. Linux (Android, WebOS) and iPhoneOS possibly dominating for once.

Will they recover? It is possible. Netbooks caught the giant software company with pants all the way down. But they managed to recover with some well timed OEM deals and bringing back Windows XP from the dead. But this time around it will be a bit more difficult.

[Tristam Green]

HP also killed the Slate, though I imagine that they're going to retool it with Palm WebOS, which would be AWESOME.

I gotta say I'm disappointed in Microsoft. The Courier was a wonderful concept, and it was never officially said to be production, but that's beside the point. The idea of a small digital journal that can fold up like a notebook is just...well, savor the idea of that in your mind.

Here's to hoping that either they, HP, or someone else (God, please not Google though) will innovate against the elephant in the room iPad. I mean, it's like they (HP and MS) gave up before they even tried anything, and I can imagine Steve Jobs is soiling his turtleneck with glee right now.

[Paqman]

Netbooks caught the giant software company with pants all the way down. But they managed to recover with some well timed OEM deals and bringing back Windows XP from the dead. But this time around it will be a bit more difficult.

Indeed, netbooks are probably a good precedent. They were a golden opportunity for Linux and we blew it, largely because we offered a smattering of substandard offerings. Unless a big name with lots of mindshare and a really good product gets behind Linux on tablets it'll be a repeat of the same thing.

Could Google be the key with Android? As far as I can see they're the only people that are positioned to make it happen, unless one of the big distros pulls a major deal with an OEM out of their magic hat.