Microsoft Tablet PC Followup

So, not all is perfect in Tablet PC - land, well, at least not with my tablet (the IBM X41).

Just last week I had one of the first longer meetings where I found myself using the tablet the entire time (the meeting was about four hours long) to take notes, make action items, and open up various items for reference and reviewing.

I have to say that I found using the X41's digitizer pen for that long was very uncomfortable. The pen is not really designed for comfort. That's not to say it's a really bad design; the fact that the designers were able to design a slot for the pen in the tiny X41 is pretty amazing (well, the overall design of the machine is amazing; it is truely a feat of engineering and, at least in my opinion, asthetically appealing as well). Unfortunetly, the ergonomics of the pen definately suffer; the pen is small and has fairly sharp edges. That said, it was only after using it for nearly four hours continuously that it became noticable to the point where it was irritating.

The flip side to this was that without the laptops incredible battery life (it lasts over SEVEN hours) I wouldn't have even noticed the problem :-)

Microsoft Tablet PC

I am absolutely in love with Microsoft Tablet PC. I have been using an IBM X41 Tablet PC for a few months right now, and I absolutely love it. After reading a significant amount of negative commentary about it, I have to say; the people making negative comments about Tablet PC must not have actually used it. Of course, looking back at much of the commentary, that does appear to be true; most of the people making the comments are simply pundits making comments with no basis on actual experience. For me, the Tablet PC represents a delivery of the promise of technology to bring about a true "paperless office". I've found that in my time using my Tablet, I began relying less and less on paper. Now, I barely use paper at all, except for the occasional sticky note reminder stuck to the monitor of my desktop PC.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that I have the IBM X41 Tablet, which is, at least as far as the general Tablet PC reviews go, one of the best Tablet PCs currently available. Although I have not used any other Tablets, I would have to say that the X41 is definitely a winner. For me, it is the perfect form factor.

About 75% of my time is spent in Client meetings, with the remainder of my time spent doing design and development work. I find my Tablet works perfectly for this. It's like having a portable paper-based notebook and daytimer combined in one. Oh, and it just happens to contain a complete archive of my email, as well as all of my files, and a copy of my current development projects, which is perfect for referencing in meetings.

Overall, I couldn't be happier. Call me a Tablet PC Convert.

Visual Studio 2005 Automation Samples

http://www.theserverside.net/news/thread.tss?thread_id=38447

Architecture Astronauts

Joel Spolsky of Joel on Software and Fog Creek Software has written not one, but two articles on what he calls Architecture Astronauts.

I think I would like to extend or add to what he has written by further defining an Architecture Astronaut as not just someone who over-abstracts a software system, but as someone who over-abstracts a software system to the point where it's cost begins to exceed what the system should cost.

Why Does Software Cost So Much

http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/crosstalk/1994/10/xt94d10h.asp