Yesterday we had a chance to get Otto Berkes
on the line, the man behind
Origami at Microsoft, as well as
Dustin Hubbard, Group Manager for Microsoft's Mobile Hardware and Application Development team. We had a few things to
ask about what the deal is with
UMPCs and Origami, here's what we
learned: Origami is a term originated from Berkes that doesn't necessarily refer to a device or specific hardware
specification, per se, but to an ultramobile PC running Windows Tablet (or Vista, later) and enhanced Microsoft Touch
Pack (a suite of apps and utilities meant to optimize using Windows by touch, and not necessarily only by stylus).
Touch Pack consists of a launcher app that better groups and opens apps based on a touchscreen interface; DialKeys, a
thumb-based text input system that uses those
two onscreen touch inputs on either
side; Touch Improvements, a suite of environment optimizations to make using Windows with your fingers a less painful
experience; and some other stuff, like Sudoku and an Origami-optimized Windows Media skin to kind of round out the
whole thing.
Otto made it pretty clear that Microsoft is aiming UMPCs based on Tablet with Touch Pack at the
general consumer, and not necessarily as another device for the already gadget-laden mobile office -- we'll be seeing
(and have already seen) initially launches by the likes of
Samsung, Asus, and Founder, so keep
an eye out for those today. We did ask about
Alexandria, the other Microsoft buzz-video /
project we saw the other day, and it sounded like a system MS was working to ease acquiring music and movies online --
is Alexandria a service that might be an iTunes-killer, perhaps? We don't know (we're working on finding out), but we
do finally know what the hell Origami is, and now you do too.
