I checked to see if there was a thread about this already and didn't see anything pop up when I used "Origami" as the search criteria, so, I hope this hasn't already been covered. Anyway:
quote:Microsoft Corp. unveiled its 'Origami' project Thursday, a paperback-book sized portable computer, which is a hybrid between a laptop PC and a host of mobile devices that the world's biggest software maker hopes will create an entirely new market.
Samsung is doing the same thing:
quote: Samsung positions the UMPC as a handheld organizer, an MP3 portable music player, a mobile television receiver, a games device and a notebook PC and believes it will be more successful than the full-sized tablet notebook PC with touch screen, launched four years ago.
If they can fix the battery issues on it, this could be the ultimate gadget. As Wifi becomes more ubiquitous, people will become even more interconnected. You thought cell phones and iPods were bad, with this thing you can be connected 24/7, ANYWHERE. Oakland County where I live is getting free wireless during 2007, everywhere in the county. Free internet and MSN Messenger anywhere in the county? I'll take one please.
The battery issue will be interesting. The last 10 years of advancement has seen a massive increase in the speed of processors, and the size of storage in computer memories, but the capacity for batteries has been more or less stagnant for the past decade. They've invented smaller batteries, liquid batteries, batteries that rechard with sunlight, batteries that can recharge without having to be fully depleted, but the overall battery life itself hasn't been dramatically increased recently. It's a hurdle that will have to finally be breached to get this thing to really work. That battery alone will be a cash cow for Microsoft, but they aren't really in the hardware business, other than the Xbox anyway.
Looks like that's about to change. All these things are missing is cell phone capability. It's about time Microsoft got into the telecommunications industry! What I'd love to see, is for them to also have decent resolution webcams on them too, so you can basically have a portable videophone everywhere you go. It's the most Star Trek like thing I've seen recently proposed for mass release.
And, Microsoft thinks they can sell one for five hundred dollars, if they choose the components well enough. An MP3 player, mini laptop, portable DVD player (more or less), internet browser, possible games platform (to challenge the PSP?), and oh so much more, for only $500?
The real question is, can Microsoft really make it work?
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There are more people working on this than just Microsoft. In fact, I believe Microsoft is just designing the software for the OS. The actual Origami is a product of ASUS. Samsung and Founder (a company I've never heard of) are creating similar devices. From what I've heard (And as yet been unable to confirm), the Origami runs about 2 hours on a charge right now. Not that acceptable as a replacement for PDA's, but good enough to replace bulky laptops.
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I'm curious about this one too. $500 is more than I'd be willing to spend, but I figure the price'll come down eventually.
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I doubt it Goody. This is supposed to replace something like a half dozen different gadgets, from PDAs, to Laptops. And the price of those still vary greatly, but most laptops are still over a thousand dollars. $500 is Microsoft's LOW END estimate of how much it can cost if the parts are chosen carefully by the manufacturer.
This is the kind of thing I could see consistantly costing $500 dollars after awhile, but I don't see the price coming down much beyond that, not for a long, long, long time.
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Expensive hunkajunk for folks who buy expensive hunks of junk such as bejeweled cellphones cuz they are symbols of hideously conspicous consumption.
Consider that Microsoft's BillGates and Intel's PaulOrtinelli went out of their way to attack MITMediaLab's $100Laptop -- including the proposed software -- because they fear that a commercial model of the $100Laptop would pose a serious competitive threat to their $700"dream"machine, and to their business model. I mean, good grief, Wintel is whining about the lack of a hard-drive and a video player as serious objections? A 20Gigabyte portable hard-drive can be purchased for less than $90, and a portable Dvd-read&write is less than $70: which comes to less than $260 for a laptop with hard-drive and Dvd player.
About the only thing that an Origami could do better than a $100Laptop is play video games and movies. It's not as if anyone is gonna do any serious programming without a keyboard, or do any serious CGI on a comparatively low-power small touchscreen.
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I was concerned with their attacks on the $100 laptop myself. It was designed to be cheap with limited functionality, for people who can't afford a bajillion dollar gadget for each member of a family. And I thought it was a good idea.
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Excluding video-gamers and video-downloaders, that "limited functionality" is more than the overwhelming supermajority of computer buyers will ever use on their machines.
If the camera business were run like the computer business, everyone would have to buy a SingleLensReflex -- with interchangeable lenses and full manual-control capability -- plus a photo-editor and a photo-printer, even if all they want to do is to point&shoot and let the store do the printing work.
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