September 29th, 2009

Microsoft's Courier tablet: A Franklin Covey planner on steroids?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:32 am

Categories: Channel, Code names, Corporate strategy, OEMs, Research, Resellers, Silverlight (wpf/e), Surface, Windows 7, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Gizmodo, Courier, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Mary Jo Foley

Since the first video and photo leaks went public last week of Microsoft’s alleged second-generation Tablet PC, tipsters have been working overtime.

Since Microsoft isn’t commenting at all on Courier (the official statement is “we don’t comment on rumors or speculation”), it’s tough to separate fact from fiction at this point.

But some tipsters are a little more connected than others. And one of my connected tipsters has shared some new info with me that I’m posting now, given that it seems more verifiable.

I say “verifiable” here, not in an official sense, but based on a new Courier video clip Gizmodo posted on September 29. Gizmodo’s new clip shows more details about the journaling model around which Courier’s user interface seems to revolve. From Gizmodo’s explanation:

“The (Courier) journal can actually be published online, and it’s shown here as able to be downloaded in three formats: a Courier file, Powerpoint or PDF. There’s also a library that looks a lot like Delicious Library, where things like subscriptions, notebooks and apps, are stored.”

That sure makes the Courier sound like it fits in with Microsoft’s uber-”three screens and a cloud” vision — via which devices, TVs and PCs all share common cloud-based services, storage, etc.

The Courier journaling metaphor isn’t so different from Microsoft’s OneNote note-taking app that is currently the showcase app for existing tablet PCs, my “connected” source said. He explained:

“The concept started as a software idea on how one would really build OneNote from scratch if you could for the Tablet form factor. That then morphed into building a tablet. If you look at the most successful pocket computer today - it is still the Franklin Covey Planning Products. So, the idea was how do you create a digital planner.”

My source also claimed that the operating system underneath Courier is — at least currently — Windows 7. (That’s not as crazy as it might seem, given that the OS underlying Microsoft’s Surface is Vista — and Windows 7 is touch-enabled.)

You can’t install Windows 7 apps on Courier, the source said, and that’s intentional.

The original Microsoft Tablets “failed because the applications were not tailored to a tablet form factor - that is, Word still had toolbars and menus and scollbars. So, a tablet needs to be like an iPhone - a UX that is specific for the form factor,” the source said.

My source said that Courier is an incubation project, meaning it’s further along than a Microsoft Research project, but still not in the commercialization pipeline. That said, he heard the  delivery goal is mid-2010. That seems pretty darn ambitious to me, but he also said Microsoft is currently leaning toward using the Xbox model — in other words, making the device itself, and not relying on its current Tablet partners — so that could speed things up a bit.

I can’t verify any of what my source has told me. But I figured I’d put it out there, as it jibes with what Gizmodo has unearthed.

What’s your take? Is the Courier protoype we’re hearing and seeing bits and pieces about something you could see having wider appeal than the current generation of Tablets?

September 22nd, 2009

Courier: Microsoft's new take on the Tablet PC?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 9:24 pm

Categories: Channel, Code names, Corporate strategy, OEMs, Surface, Windows client

Tags: PC, Tablet PC, Video, Microsoft Corp., InkSeine, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Mary Jo Foley

On the heels of my updated rumor on what Microsoft is doing to breathe new life into the Tablet PC, Gizmodo.com has published a video and screen shots of “Courier,” a new kind of Tablet-like PC allegedly in development at Microsoft.

I’ve already gotten a few questions from readers as whether this is the same Microsoft Tablet Take 2 that I wrote about recently. My honest answer: I don’t know, but I’d bet so.

Gizmodo showed off a sneak peek of a video of the Courier device in action during a press-only party in New York on September 22 to mark the opening of the Gizmodo Gallery. The video of the device — which, as Gizmodo notes, was recorded by Microsoft partner Pioneer Studios — shows a prototype of a clamshell-type device with two touch screens connected by a hinge. While users can interact with the  device using multitouch, they also can use a stylus/pen.

A couple of things I noticed in the Giz video that lead me to believe this might be the new Tablet PC/Surface combo about which I’ve gotten tips:

• The video includes a “Nicolas Allard” in a list of client names in a sample Journal entry on the device. J Allard, Microsoft’s Chief Experience Officer for its Entertainment & Devices division, is rumored to be the main driver of the new Tablet.
• The “Journals” metaphor shown in the video may be connected to InkSeine, a Microsoft Research project in incubation (which means it’s somewhere between pure research and productization). Here’s Microsoft’s description of InkSeine: “The goal of the InkSeine project is to completely rethink the user interface for tablet computers. Some people have described InkSeine as ‘Windows Journal on steroids.’ But InkSeine goes well beyond Windows Journal, particularly in its features to search from ink and to easily drag hyperlinks for documents and web pages into your notes.

Courier sounds like one of what could be a number of different Tablet-like devices from the Alchemy Ventures group with which my sources say Allard is affiliated. (The other Microsoft exec I’ve heard is part of this new Tablet remake is Peter Thompson, the General Manager of Microsoft Surface, for what it’s worth.)

Update: Another rumored version of the new Microsoft Tablet — with the codename “Codex,” not “Courier” — can be seen on site of tech enthusiast Manan Kakkar. The Codex pictures show a clamshell device with a pair of four-inch touch screens. Kakkar says the device is running the InkSeine software, which I mention above. Codex was/is a Microsoft Research project. Could Codex be the precursor to Courier? Your guess is as good as mine….

Microsoft is not commenting on Courier or offering a possible timetable for the release of any kind of new Tablet PC, manufactured by Microsoft and/or its OEM partners. No word from Gizmodo (at least so far) on what the operating system is behind the Courier prototype shown in the video.

I’m known for not being much of a Tablet fan. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, on the other hand, is the No. 1 backer of the Tablet. Do you think Courier — if it is really Microsoft’s next generation Tablet — is more likely to be successful than the original Tablets were?

September 20th, 2009

Pink and Microsoft Tablet (Take 2): A couple of updates

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 3:38 pm

Categories: Apple, Channel, Code names, Corporate strategy, Mobile services ("Pink"/"Rouge"), OEMs, Surface, Windows Mobile, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Pink, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Mary Jo Foley

Project Pink and the rumored remake of a Microsoft Tablet are back on the rumor treadmill this weekend.

It’s been quiet out there lately on both fronts. Here’s a recap — plus a couple of small updates — that I’ve heard recently about these two skunk-works efforts. And just so it’s clear: Microsoft isn’t corroborating or even commenting on Pink or the new Tablet. This info is purely from sources.

Pink: Yes, it’s a Microsoft-branded (but not Microsoft-manufactured) phone. Yes, it also will feature premium mobile services (like the Zune video store and music subscription/purchasing). I wouldn’t be surprised if Pink looked like — or at least was targeted at the same demographic as — the Sidekick, given the Danger folks have been at the core of Pink’s development team since Microsoft acquired Danger in 2008.

Last I heard, Pink was being built on top of the Windows Mobile 7 core, which is in development, but now not expected to be available on phones until late 2010. Does that mean it’s impossible that the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2010 will be the Pink launch pad,as one Mac site reported this weekend? I’d say it’s still possible that Microsoft could show off Pink (privately or publicly) at CES. After all, Microsoft already chose an ad agency to handle the Pink campaign. It’d make sense for Microsoft to start trying to build buzz for Pink earlier than it actually will ship.

Pink (or whatever it is codenamed these days) definitely still seems to be an active project. Stephen Chapman over at UX Evangelist — who is quite skilled at combing through on-line job sites and resumes — recently sent me this mention of Pink on LinkedIn:

Peo Orvendal
Senior Dev Lead
Microsoft
July 2008 – Present (1 year 3 months)

Working in the new V1 Pink team at Microsoft.

Update: 9to5 Mac has posted a link to a drawing of what it says is one of the two Pink phones due to be launched at CES 2010. This allegedly, is the “Turtle” Pink phone. There’s another that is codenamed “Pure,” 9to5 says.  I never heard there were supposed to be two Pink phones. But then again, who knows; Microsoft plans are always in flux.

Microsoft Tablet (Take 2): Like TechFlash’s Todd Bishop, I received a tip earlier this year that Microsoft was going to make another run at the Tablet. Chief Experience Officer J Allard, who has been been noticeably absent from public appearances over the past few months, is supposedly leading the charge.

More recently, I heard that at least one exec from Microsoft’s Surface team is part of the Tablet effort, too. Microsoft officials have hinted before that they’re set on building a smaller Surface. At one point, that project was going by the codename “Oahu.” But the new Tablet effort is allegedly part of something that is known as “Alchemy Ventures,” according to the couple of tips I’ve gotten on it to date. I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft is waiting for Apple to show its Tablet hand before trotting out its revamped Tablet.

No word on whether Microsoft will field a Microsoft-branded Surface/Tablet combo or rely on one or more hardware partners to produce multiple designs. But this job description for a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft in the Entertainment and Devices Division surely could be for the secret Tablet-remake:

Division: Entertainment & Devices Division
Excited by Xbox 360? Fascinated by the technology that powers the Surface? Ever wonder how your Zune HD got built? Bring your talent and passion for building great products to the Manufacturing Test Engineering team! Our team is where all these cool products and more come together. We are a small, high-energy engineering team that builds all the systems that make sure these great products work perfectly as they leave our factories. We literally design and build all the test system used to check our products from the beginning to the end of the manufacturing line and are literally responsible for billions of dollars of products being delivered at the highest quality to our customers.

As a Senior Program Manager, you will own a broad set of feature areas and products, working with our mechanical, electrical, firmware, software, design verification and reliability engineers along with Manufacturing to bring a product from concept into mass production. You will also develop partnerships with internal and external organizations to ensure that our products deliver a superior customer experience.

A couple of points to remember in all of this: Microsoft is a software and services company. Execs have made it clear they plan to get out of the MP3 player business after “at least one more” Zune HD device. Microsoft is more interested in making money off subscriptions. That’s why Zune is morphing into a set services are going to move to mobile phones, including Pink.

Point two: Microsoft’s plan in the mobile device space is to partner more closely with fewer vendors. That’s what the “chassis” model is all about. Microsoft creates a very detailed chassis spec and then allows partners to bid on making devices that comply with the spec.

Palm’s publicly confirmed move to get out of the Windows Mobile business and put all its eggs in the WebOS one (after marketing its line of Windows-Mobile-based Treos for a few more quarters) surely wasn’t something the beleagured Windows Mobile team wanted/needed to hear this week. But as of late, Microsoft is cozying up lately to a smaller cast of characters, including HTC, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and a few others.

What are your expectations? Will Microsoft field a Pink phone in early 2010? Might a Surface-like Tablet PC be close behind?

April 6th, 2009

Microsoft links HealthVault service with Amalga software

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:50 am

Categories: Azure, Corporate strategy, Healthcare, Red Dog, Surface, Utility/cloud computing

Tags: Health Care, Microsoft Corp., HealthVault, Vertical Industries, Benefits, Healthcare, Enterprise Software, Software, Human Resources, Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft has integrated its HealthVault service and its Amalga patient-information software, the company announced on April 6.

The integration is one of the new features of the newly-unveiled 2009 update to the Amalga Unified Intelligence System (UIS) platform. Other new features of UIS 2009 include preconfigured add-on modules, Amalga Web functionality and IT tools aimed at lowering total cost of ownership, according to Microsoft.

HealthVault is Microsoft’s consumer-focused health-records-management Software+Service platform, which the company unveiled officially in 2007. (The service component of HealthVault is one of a handful of Microsoft services that already is hosted on top of Azure.) Amalga UIS, (one of the products formerly under the Azyxxi brand), is one of the main elements of Microsoft’s enterprise health-information-system platform.

A year ago, Microsoft was testing the feasibility and usefulness of integrating HealthVault with Amalga.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hasn’t been talking up Microsoft’s investments in healthcare much this year. When itemizing Microsoft’s short- and long-term bets for the Wall Street crowd, Ballmer previously called out healthcare as one of the nascent areas which had the potential to become one of the company’s hot growth areas.

Speaking of healthcare, Microsoft is showing off prototypes of healthcare applications that could work on Microsoft Surface tabletops at this week’s Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2009 conference. Among the demo apps: a patient-scheduling system and a patient check-in app.

(I still think the idea of using a Surface as a stovetop makes more short-term sense. — April Fool’s or not.)

March 31st, 2009

The multi-touch patent game: Who was first?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 1:05 pm

Categories: Apple, Corporate strategy, Surface, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows client

Tags: Game, Multi-touch, Microsoft Corp., Sherman, Mary Jo Foley

While Apple and Palm have tussled over who “owns” multi-touch, Microsoft has kept surprisingly silent.

According to a blog posting on ZDNet sister site BNET last week, however, Microsoft may have been first to seek a multi-touch patent application.

BNET Technology Industry Analyst Erick Sherman reported that Microsoft has a multi-touch patent application that predates any of Apple’s filings. Sherman’s conclusion: Apple (which was granted a broad patent on multi-touch) could find itself cross-licensing with Microsoft as to avoid losing its patent.

(Sherman doesn’t mention the fact that the Microsoft patent application in question, No. 20070262964 for “Multi touch uses, gestures and implementation,” has yet to be granted (or dismissed.) Microsoft applied for that patent on May 12, 2006.

Microsoft execs have demonstrated multi-touch capabilities that are being built into Windows 7, and have discussed plans to make multi-touch support part of Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7.0.

I asked Microsoft officials whether they believed Sherman’s findings were correct. A spokesperson sent the following answer: “Microsoft doesn’t have a comment to provide.”

In other patent-related news, Moixa has been awarded a patent on its “apple-sized” multi-touch sphere, according to the company. Microsoft has shown off a similar-sounding spherical Surface computer. Microsoft’s Sphere is based on technology from Global Imagination.

I asked Moixa officials whether Moxia was providing/licensing any sphere-like technologies to Microsoft. A spokesperson sent the following statement in reply:

“Not at the time, no. Ours is much more advanced and hand sized, but would apply to those interested in multi-touch on curved surfaces, as well as advanced 3D/control devices.”

February 13th, 2009

Microsoft: It's not just a store, it's a branding experience

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 12:20 pm

Categories: Channel, Corporate strategy, OEMs, Resellers, Surface, System builders, Windows Live, Windows Mobile, Windows client, Xbox, Zune

Tags: Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Retail, Blogging, Branding, Internet, Marketing, Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft execs dropped a few more hints on February 13 about what the company’s just-announced Microsoft-branded retail stores might look like.

Microsoft still isn’t talking particulars — the whens and wheres — of the family of Microsoft-branded stores that it is going to build. But at Minority Student Day at the company’s Redmond headquarters, Microsoft President of Entertainment and Devices Robbie Bach, told reporters that Microsoft isn’t going to be seeking to emulate the Apple retail concept. (That’s refreshing, given how deep Apple envy seems to run on the consumer side of Microsoft these days.)

Seattle Times blogger Benjamin Romano quoted Bach on how Microsoft’s retail stores will be different from Apple’s:

“Apple’s approach was about distribution. People forget that when they entered their stores [in 2001], this was quite a while ago, they didn’t have distribution for Macintoshes, so they created their own distribution.

“We have plenty of distribution. These stores for us are about building our connection to customers, about building our brand presence and about reaching out and understanding what works and what improves the selling experience.”

Does that mean Microsoft won’t be pushing to sell Xboxes and Big-Ass Tables in its retail outlets? Will it actually sell PCs, phones, consoles and software at all? Or will it simply turn its forthcoming Microsoft stores into showrooms, with all product fulfillment happening through referrals to PC makers, other retail outlets and/or PC vendors themselves?

Former Softie Robert Scoble has a (very) long post with advice for Microsoft on how to do better than Apple at retail. The short version of his post: Start with bathroom design. (No, I’m not kidding). My ZDNet blogging colleague Larry Dignan advises Microsoft to use its new stores as a beta-testing fishbowl for gathering information from customers to whom they might not be talking already.  And All Things D blogger Kara Swisher reminisces about Microsoft’s previous failed attempt at going retail with a store in San Francisco.

One thing’s for sure: David Porter, the new head of retail stores for Microsoft, sure has a daunting task ahead….

January 12th, 2009

Touch-enabled PCs and browsers: Do not want

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 8:56 am

Categories: Apple, Corporate strategy, Internet Explorer, Surface, Windows 7, Windows client

Tags: Touch Screen, PC, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Corp., Web Browser, Keyboards, Desktops, Monitors & Displays, Hardware, Peripherals

If you have any doubts that Microsoft is going to keep pushing touch down users’ throats, the company’s contribution to an investment of $24 million in N-Trig, which develops technology for touch-enabling PC screens should put those to rest.

Couple that with a new Internet Explorer (IE) 8 gesturing feature that Microsoft has turned on as part of the Windows 7 public Beta and it’s safe to say that Microsoft is going to try to lead users to touch, whether they want to go there or not.

As I’ve stated more than once, I’m not a fan of touch-screen PCs. I do see why some users like touch on their phones and MP3 players. But on PCs, touch just seem like a problem in search of a solution solution in search of a problem. (Take this as you will from someone who also doesn’t really understand the appeal of the Microsoft Surface or Tablet PCs….)

Silicon Alley Insider wondered aloud today why Microsoft officials are touting kitchen-centric uses for touch PCs. The reason is simple: Touch is not for everyone. (And I say that as someone who uses her PC to look up recipes on a daily basis — happily using a mouse and keyboard.)

There are applications for which touch makes sense: Browsing on a phone; sharing x-rays and other medical documentation; anything for which you’d think of CAD. But why is Microsoft trying to push touch down all users’ throats?

I am test-driving the Windows 7 Beta on a ThinkPad X300 — which is not a touch-screen-enabled PC. (It has a TouchPad, however, over which I am constantly tripping.) Even without the touch screen, I have accidentally dragged upwards various icons from the task bar, thus randomly opening Jump Lists. When I dragged my mouse downward, I got another list. Via the IE Blog, I saw that this isn’t a bug; it’s a new feature (”drag to display”) in the IE 8 Beta built into IE 7. The assumption is that users want and like “touch-like” gestures even if they aren’t running a touch-screen machine.

Tablet PCs have remained a niche market. I am betting touch-enabled PCs will be the same. So why is Microsoft trying to force all users to go the touch route? Let those of us who like clicking our keyboards and rolling our mice  — without flicks and swipes –have some respect.

Which camp are you in? The “Resistance is futile and touch is inevitable” future? Or the “Users should have an input choice” one?

Image credit: Do Not Want

November 3rd, 2008

New virtualized sandbox, Vista SP2 and other PDC-week leftovers

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 11:13 am

Categories: Advertising, Apple, Channel, Corporate strategy, Live Mesh, PDC 2008, Security, Service Pack, Surface, System builders, Vista, Windows Home Server, Windows Mobile, Windows Server 2008/ Windows Server Longhorn, Windows client, Windows server

Tags: Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley, Web, Server

With so much attention on Windows 7 and Windows Azure last week, a few Microsoft announcements slipped through the cracks during the week-long Professional Developer Conference (PDC) onslaught.

A few noteworthy announcements:

* A more broadly available beta build of Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Server 2008 SP2 went to testers on October 29, as Microsoft promised the week before. Only pre-selected testers who were granted access to the SP2 test builds via Microsoft Connect got the bits. The final SP2 releases for both operating systems are expected in the first half of 2009.

* Microsoft slashed prices of Windows Home Server by 30 percent, starting November 1, for its system-builder partners. Company officials made sure to highlight claims that the price cuts were not due to poor reception. “After a successful year on the market, Microsoft is reducing the price of the System Builder version of Windows Home Server to provide additional value to the system builder community and further promote the home server category,” according to a statement on the Home Server Team blog.

* The long-awaited Live Mesh clients for Windows Mobile and Mac OS X are now available to testers. After a false start, with some non-working installer code, the Live Mesh team made test versions of the two new Live Mesh clients available for download last week.

* A Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of a new Live Labs project, known as the “Web Sandbox,” is now available.  Described as “a solution for securing Web content through isolation,” the Web Sandbox makes use of virtualization to allow developers to test Web attacks they might be concerned about. From the Web Sandbox site:

“Maybe your Web site includes maps, visit counters, affiliate programs that run scripts on your page, gadgets, or scripts from other sites. What happens if one of those elements tries running malicious code, redirecting users, installing rogue ActiveX controls or even reading users information?  IFrames might help, but do they really protect the user or their machine?

“The Web Sandbox addresses this problem through virtualization. We provide an opportunity to test the Sandbox and find out whether it prevents the attacks you’re concerned about.”

* Microsoft released the fall update for its adCenter platform last week. Both the user interface and campaign-management features got a facelift.

* Microsoft’s Surface Software Development Kit (SDK) is now available to selected testers. In order to obtain the Surface SDK, developers need an e-mail invitation from Microsoft. (Microsoft is providing developers with Surface tabletops at a “special rate” as part of its developer-outreach for the platform.)

October 14th, 2008

Would you pay $1,499 for the Microsoft 'Oahu' Surface table?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:04 am

Categories: Channel, Code names, Corporate strategy, OEMs, PDC 2008, Resellers, Surface, System builders, Windows 7

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Survey, Oahu, Marketing Research, Marketing, Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft has been dangling the possibility of a smaller, more consumer-centric version of its Surface multi-touch tabletop computer for the past few months. Now that form factor has a codename: Oahu.

Long Zheng of istartedsomething.com has more details on Oahu, which he has gleaned from a Microsoft marketing survey evaluating interest in a more affordable, smaller, home-oriented Surface. As Zheng notes the survey asked participants about a few different “forms” of Oahu — a table for meals, a counter top or games table.

The survey questions whether users would be willing to spend $1,499 for a Surface games table or casual table.

As Zheng notes, Oahu, “besides being the name of the Hawaiian island - home to Honolulu, Pearl Harbour and Lost, it is indirectly translated as ‘The Gathering Place.’”

No word on when Oahu test trials may begin or when a final product may hit. But Microsoft is set to talk about its Surface software development kit at the Professional Developers Conference in two weeks….

September 11th, 2008

Microsoft Surface toolkit to offer insights into Windows 7 multi-touch

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:07 am

Categories: PDC 2008, Surface, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Surface, Microsoft Windows 7, Multi-touch, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

The software development kit (SDK) for the Microsoft Surface tabletop still is available only to a select group of developers. But when Microsoft releases it more broadly in the next month or two, the Surface SDK will offer new insights into what Microsoft is doing with multi-touch around Windows 7.

While both the Surface and Windows 7 (as well as Windows Mobile 7) are all going to be Microsoft multi-touch showcases, I never really connected the dots between the work being done by the Surface team and the Windows 7 team.  But given the initial Surface prototype systems were built on top of Windows Vista, it makes sense the next generation Surfaces will run on Windows 7.

What really helped me put 2 and 2 together was the description of the Microsoft Surface session slated for the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in late October. (The Surface session is listed on the PDC Web site as one of a handful of Windows 7 sessions slated for the PDC.) The description:

“This session introduces the newly available Surface SDK that forms the basis of the Windows 7 multi-touch programming model. In addition, learn about the unique attributes of Surface computing and then dive into the core controls like ScatterView and vision-system tagging. Learn how you can become a part of the expanding partner ecosystem for Surface computing and leverage your existing investments in Windows Presentation Foundation and Microsoft Visual Studio.”

Speaking of multi-touch, the UX Evangelist site is running an in-depth look at how Microsoft multi-touch works. Lots of good information on Duo-Sense, the “single dual-mode digitizer” technology that is working under the Windows 7 covers.

As blogger Michael Gartenberg notes, Surface systems are replacing Tablet PCs — at least at MSNBC — as the go-to devices for reporters doing election coverage. Until Microsoft delivers its promised consumer-tailored Surface systems, though, I just don’t see Surfaces taking the multi-touch-happy world by storm….