5 years back in year 2005 Bill Gates displayed one of his dream computers prototype which was a thin fully touch tablet pc. Bill said this technology is still to come but we have already started working towards it. It is 2010 now but we haven’t seen such tablet coming out of Microsoft’s product line, however there are other companies which have launched similar products and have gained popularity. Apples iPad is what Bill actually dreamt off, but unfortunately it is not Microsoft’s. In order to work upon Gate’s dream computer in year 2006 Microsoft started a project Origami and it was all about adding a touch screen interface in Windows XP. Again it is year 2010 but no such device from Microsoft has come into existence. We surely can say that iPad was the vision of Microsoft but they failed to make it a reality and Apple did it fast and did it good.
Since the day iPad was launched it has become one of the best gadgets after their iPhone which changed the interface of smart devices altogether. What was the reason behind the failure of Origami and why could Microsoft not develop such a Tablet before Apple. The answers could be many but most of the critics believe that it was all about time. The vision of such tablet PC by Bill Gates was way beyond the current technology. Bill desired to give a full day battery backup to its device but at that time companies were striving to provide at least two hours of battery life. At that time there was no Multi-touch device in the market and probably this technology was in the initial stages of development. The first all touch screen device was the Apple’s iPhone and it was after its launch that the race for touch screen devices started. Apple can thus be considered as the launching platform of this technology that revolutionised the mobile and computing interface and experience. Apart from technological limitations Microsoft had too much to think upon at that time. Microsoft was busy developing Windows Vista. Vista initially was not intended to be developed and Microsoft was actually working on an improved version of Windows XP which had a full new file system and far more advanced features. However due to many challenges (both internal and external) Microsoft dropped the idea of new XP and developed another operating system which is known as Windows Vista. The new operating system Vista was graphics rich software and consumed too much resources and resulted in short battery life. Advent of this operating system could have been another factor why Microsoft was not able to make the Tablet PC which Bill Gates had envisioned. Microsoft has always created bulky and heavy software instead of light ones so it is always difficult for Microsoft to provide a battery life of a full day. Microsoft’s operating systems have always been resource hungry so it seems difficult for Microsoft to come up with an operating which could stand the needs of today’s tablet PCs
Microsoft still is leading the operating system market but its domination may not remain constant if it fails to fulfil the requirements of today’s mobile computing segment.
