Might not seem like it, but Microsoft is still pushing the Tablet PC

Anyone else notice that the Tablet PC has become sort of invisible lately? Hardly any new ones were announced at the big ol' Consumer Electronics Show a few weeks ago (Bill Gates didn't even hardly mention it during his big keynote there), sales have been mad sluggish (only 1.3% of all PCs sold are Tablet PCs, and it doesn't help that they almost always cost more than a comparably-equipped laptop), and it's almost like Microsoft has just lost interest in the whole thing. Well, maybe not entirely. It might not seem like they're pushing the Tablet PC platform very hard, but PC World has an article about how Microsoft is working with Toshiba, ViewSonic, and AveraTec (i.e. spending some marketing dollars) to get more budget Tablet PCs on the market. Everyone seems to think that the problem is poor marketing—that Microsoft et al. have done a poor job explaining what a Tablet PC is and what makes it different than a regular laptop—but maybe it's time to admit that beyond a few niche markets, there just aren't that many people who want to write by hand any more. Nothing wrong with that.

P.S. – In case you wondering, despite all the rumors, Dell still says they aren't coming out with a Tablet PC.