With Apple's current half ass writing feature, good luck using this thing without a keyboard. Apple can't even touch XP writing capabilities and Vista runs circles around XP. My ancient HP TC1100 tablet PC and Vista rocks!
With this question I'm being 100% sincere as I don't know the answer and am really curious: What advantages does XP/Vista have over OSX in this regard? What are the differences?
Other than tons of little features (non highlight when in password mode, web helper, etc) it is way smarter. Check out the video...my hand writing is a lot messier than the guy in the video:
I haven't tried XP or Vista's implementation but I can confirm that Apple's InkWell sucks horribly. Writing "Hello" has a 50% chance of being interpreted as "He110" (H-e-one-one-zero), usually with random spaces inserted: "H e1 10". The spacing between chars can be configured, but I still haven't found a setting that works consistently.
From my Wacom tablet: "This 15 A test H 5a I d / Te ally 62 C ye 8 Ye" Should have been: "This is a test. As I said, really bad. Bye bye."
The OP is 100%, allbeit, a little harsh. I've used both - and Apple has really dropped the ball on this, or should I say Microsoft has really taken the concept and run with it. The TPC is/was(?) a pet project of Bill Gates that has been actively develped, whereas the InkWell is in may ways a hold over from the Newton days. I'm no Microsoft fan, but I think we need to give credit where credit is due on this one.
As much as the fanbois seem to be having an orgy voting Roach down, he IS right in this regard. At the moment Vista/XP's tablet functionality (obviously) is better than apple's. I say obviously because there (obviously) aren't any apple tablets out there right now, so the comparison is relatively moot to begin with.
Regardless, I use a tablet every single day for serious note taking, web browsing, email writing, everything, and Vista's tablet functionality is better than anything I've seen out there. Trust me, I've been using handwriting recognition consumer level devices since the Palm III days, and I'm very impressed. Handwriting recognition through the tablet input panel is extremely accurate, learns your handwriting with normal use (and from specific corrections you make character by character), and becomes astonishingly better with each and every use. This functionality works through an API with all the other handwriting-type input dialogs. Believe me, I have a hard time reading my own handwriting, but this thing is close to 99% right-on.
Moreover, what killer note taking application is there for mac anyways? Something that's tablet-HID type enabled? Sorry guys, but OneNote has you beat in that regard. If you haven't used it, try it out. It seriously is the biggest kept secret in all of Microsoft's... (or M$ if you prefer) product lineup.
But again, apple isn't even trying in this market. Perhaps they'll do the same thing to tablet GUI/use like they did to WM with the iPhone... Capacitive is the new sexy.
Other then OS X sucks ass? Not much. And I'm dead serious on that comment too. I've had a MBP for 2 years now and Friday was the last straw with wireless being beyond unreliable and the continuing adventures of OS X the freezing OS when I go from Wireless to wired, change locations and as Jobs like to put it BAM! Instant freeze. I nuked OS X and installed Vista Business that I've had sitting on my desk for about 9 months now with SP1....no problems what so ever. My only complaint is no iPhoto which I'm working on getting in VMWare Workstation. Fuck OS X. I don't know if the OS just hates me but I'm dead serious when I say in the 8 years of running Win2K, XP, and now Vista I've crashed more times in the last 2.5 years with my MBP then all years combined with 2K, XP, and Vista. PS- And don't tell me its my hardware. Fall of last year Apple replaced my gen 1 MBP with a C2D MBP and I've still been having on and off again problems.
I always smile at people comparing handwriting recognition on different platforms. Isn't it obvious that choosing characters from a virtual keyboard will ALWAYS be faster than forming the actual characters? The only place where pattern recognition might work is when the screen is so small there isn't actually room for a virtual kb (although I can't think of any device too small).
@ Ignacio Obviously we'll have different handwriting, but to show you how well Vista's handwriting works, this entire post was done or a UMPC and oddly that acronym was the only thing it couldn't get right!
“An engineer explained to us that hundreds of ear impressions were gathered in the name of research, and while each one obviously boasted its own unique shape and size, one single characteristic remained uniform across the board: the entrance into the ear canal is not a perfect circle, it's an oval.”
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With Apple's current half ass writing feature, good luck using this thing without a keyboard. Apple can't even touch XP writing capabilities and Vista runs circles around XP. My ancient HP TC1100 tablet PC and Vista rocks!
With this question I'm being 100% sincere as I don't know the answer and am really curious: What advantages does XP/Vista have over OSX in this regard? What are the differences?
Fucking troll.
Other than tons of little features (non highlight when in password mode, web helper, etc) it is way smarter. Check out the video...my hand writing is a lot messier than the guy in the video:
http://www.gottabemobile.com/VistaHandwritingRecognitionVsMacOSXInkWellHandwritingRecognition.aspx
I haven't tried XP or Vista's implementation but I can confirm that Apple's InkWell sucks horribly. Writing "Hello" has a 50% chance of being interpreted as "He110" (H-e-one-one-zero), usually with random spaces inserted: "H e1 10". The spacing between chars can be configured, but I still haven't found a setting that works consistently.
From my Wacom tablet: "This 15 A test H 5a I d / Te ally 62 C ye 8 Ye"
Should have been: "This is a test. As I said, really bad. Bye bye."
The OP is 100%, allbeit, a little harsh. I've used both - and Apple has really dropped the ball on this, or should I say Microsoft has really taken the concept and run with it. The TPC is/was(?) a pet project of Bill Gates that has been actively develped, whereas the InkWell is in may ways a hold over from the Newton days. I'm no Microsoft fan, but I think we need to give credit where credit is due on this one.
As much as the fanbois seem to be having an orgy voting Roach down, he IS right in this regard. At the moment Vista/XP's tablet functionality (obviously) is better than apple's. I say obviously because there (obviously) aren't any apple tablets out there right now, so the comparison is relatively moot to begin with.
Regardless, I use a tablet every single day for serious note taking, web browsing, email writing, everything, and Vista's tablet functionality is better than anything I've seen out there. Trust me, I've been using handwriting recognition consumer level devices since the Palm III days, and I'm very impressed. Handwriting recognition through the tablet input panel is extremely accurate, learns your handwriting with normal use (and from specific corrections you make character by character), and becomes astonishingly better with each and every use. This functionality works through an API with all the other handwriting-type input dialogs. Believe me, I have a hard time reading my own handwriting, but this thing is close to 99% right-on.
Moreover, what killer note taking application is there for mac anyways? Something that's tablet-HID type enabled? Sorry guys, but OneNote has you beat in that regard. If you haven't used it, try it out. It seriously is the biggest kept secret in all of Microsoft's... (or M$ if you prefer) product lineup.
But again, apple isn't even trying in this market. Perhaps they'll do the same thing to tablet GUI/use like they did to WM with the iPhone... Capacitive is the new sexy.
truth hurts doesn't it Miles?
Other then OS X sucks ass? Not much. And I'm dead serious on that comment too. I've had a MBP for 2 years now and Friday was the last straw with wireless being beyond unreliable and the continuing adventures of OS X the freezing OS when I go from Wireless to wired, change locations and as Jobs like to put it BAM! Instant freeze. I nuked OS X and installed Vista Business that I've had sitting on my desk for about 9 months now with SP1....no problems what so ever. My only complaint is no iPhoto which I'm working on getting in VMWare Workstation. Fuck OS X. I don't know if the OS just hates me but I'm dead serious when I say in the 8 years of running Win2K, XP, and now Vista I've crashed more times in the last 2.5 years with my MBP then all years combined with 2K, XP, and Vista.
PS- And don't tell me its my hardware. Fall of last year Apple replaced my gen 1 MBP with a C2D MBP and I've still been having on and off again problems.
I always smile at people comparing handwriting recognition on different platforms. Isn't it obvious that choosing characters from a virtual keyboard will ALWAYS be faster than forming the actual characters? The only place where pattern recognition might work is when the screen is so small there isn't actually room for a virtual kb (although I can't think of any device too small).
@ Ignacio
Obviously we'll have different handwriting, but to show you how well Vista's handwriting works, this entire post was done or a UMPC and oddly that acronym was the only thing it couldn't get right!
Here's your test sentence:
This is a test. AI said really bad. Bye bye.