SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE
Mike Torres succinctly summarizes the key reason why I've not yet purchases the new OQO 01+ handtop Windows PC with Microsoft's Tablet PC operating system. He had an opportunity to play with the unit in person with a representative of the company.
Products like this offer a problematic "either/or" dilemma to folks like me who live with multiple PCs/laptops in multiple locations. As Torres says:
"One of the clear benefits of the OQO is that you don't have to deal with synchronization - your mobile PC is the same as your office PC and maybe even your home PC. You don't have to worry about not having your critical documents, contacts, calendar, music, or email with you all the time. You don't have to struggle with synchronizing your OneNote notebook with multiple PCs like I do. It sounds a lot like nirvana. One of the reasons I haven't turned on the desktop PC in my office in over a year is because I loathe the synchronization problem. It's the same reason I use Bloglines and not a client application; I need my feeds to be "synchronized" on my mobile device and on my Mac [caveat: I am trying out NewsGator again today]
But one thing that struck me about the OQO after reading up on it a little bit is that for every usability problem it solves, it introduces entirely new ones. It isn't the best desktop PC you could buy for the money - it's underpowered and only has a 30gb hard drive. Try ripping your CDs, working with Photoshop, or playing games on this pup. It isn't the best laptop or tablet PC you could buy either; the screen is too small and a thumb keyboard just won't cut it for real work. And it surely isn't the best form factor for a mobile device; I'd be surprised if this thing fit in your pocket, it doesn't include phone capabilities, and it isn't optimized for one-handed use.
In all cases you're trading off what's great about dedicated devices (desktop: power, laptop: utility, mobile: pocketable/functional) just to solve the synchronization problem. All because maintaining multiple PCs (including Pocket PCs/Smartphones) is just too much work these days."
Synchronization is also not an easy option, either on today's Windows XP or tomorrow's Vista despite Microsoft's ambitious plans for it. But it will continue to get better over time.
Another element that will help is Foldershare, a company that Microsoft bought recently. Foldershare enables the automatic synchronization of multiple files and folders across many computers over the Internet. The product is a personal favorite that I've written about before.
Additionally, as I outlined in a post a few days ago, Microsoft has additional pieces of it's product line that can also address this problem over time. A key
In the meantime, there may be an interim answer for the makers of products like the OQO to offer it's early adopter customer base.
That interim feature is something every Mac notebook can already do out of the box at least for one-time transfers from an old Mac to a new Mac. And that is the ability to be connected to any other Mac in a "turned off" state and be seen an external hard drive for a one-time transfer of files. As yet, I don't believe this works for on-going synchronization of files between two Macs or multiple Macs.
The only Windows PC/laptop that had that feature I'm aware of is the now discontinued Sharp Actius MM10 laptop a couple of years ago. As the Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg described the feature in a luke-warm review back then:
"What sets the MM10 apart, however, is that it comes with a large cradle that connects to a desktop PC. When you drop the laptop vertically into the cradle, the batteries get recharged and the laptop shows up on the desktop PC's screen as just another hard disk. Using your desktop PC, you can manually move or copy files on or off the MM10, or run programs installed on its hard disk. The two computers can be automatically synchronized if you install the program Sharp supplies."
Walter didn't like the Sharp for reasons other than it's "hard disk" synchronization feature.
But imagine if every Windows computer, including "handtop" products like the OQO had this feature. Then the user has a lot more choice in how he/she wants to manage synchronization across multiple computers, AND third party software and hardware companies could innovate on products and services that make managing multiple PCs a lot easier and convenient for mainstream users.
It's yet another feature that Microsoft needs to "borrow" from Apple, and then improve upon it to make is a permanent Sharp Actius like feature. And while they're at it, they should make it wireless as well.
A lot to ask for, but it's something that mainstream users are going to need sooner than later.
P.S. Tablet PC maven JK has a great video review of the OQO on this site if you'd like to see one in a lot more detail.
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