MIDs and Moblin. Where do we go now? | UMPCPortal – Ultra Mobile… http://tinyurl.com/ygleqmg

BTW, here’s another indication that the “UMPC” (I still hate that term – how about calling it the Mobile PC – which I propose as the new name for your podcasts) is coming of age and may become one’s only computing platform: Microsoft’s take on a docking station for mobile devices: http://www.wmexperts.com/microsoft-considering-turning-your-phone-full-pc

MIDS were too close to powerful PDA/cell phones so that to me as a clear looser. Some started to get more power like a UMPC but they still suffered the same fate due to no keyboard. Thumb keys are not keyboards!

The clear interest in netbooks shows that just like the laptops which sell over 115 million a year, everyone prefers a computer to have touch type keyboard input.

UMPC’s or MIDS whatever you want to label them can be a success but only if they create a form factor that meets a demand that is more mainstream. Mobile laptops and netbooks with full size touch type keyboards will always be the majority but there is room for a pocket size computer that has a touch type keyboard input. Something like a modern Psion 5mx or HP Jornada 720 would sell at least 2-10 million a year if it had full Windows OS.

A pocket size computer that will fit in a jacket pocket that is also as large as possible given that size limit when folded will be popular for the more mobile business crowd.

No matter what features you put or even lowering the price any small computer that is relying on pen input or thumb input will never have much demand. I am still amazed that after all these decades of laptops that NEVER HAS ANYONE CREATED A POCKET SIZE VERSION WITH A TOUCH TYPE KEYBOARD. WHEN I REFER TO POCKET SIZE I MEAN THE LARGER INSIDE COAT POCKETS THAT CAN TAKE ABOUT A MAX OF 7.5″ X 4.2″ X 1.3″ ROUGHLY. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN SUCH A DEVICE BUILT YET THAT TO ME IS THE NATURAL EVOLUTION OF A LAPTOP NOT SOMETHING WITHOUT A NORMAL KEYBOARD.

Mike, is there any way I can hold you to this?

I want an Apple pocketable MID with keyboard, if nothing else to upset JKK, nah just kidding jokes aside, seriously! I’ve been waiting for that now for ages!

We kind of touched on this in another post already but..

XP if that’s what you’re talking about when you say “10+” was released in Oct of 2001, that would make it 7+ if you want to be accurate

While I agree with you from a certain aspect, it’s not really how old or not these OS’ are, in fact that in essence could be used to defend it as a reliable, tested and matured OS, no?

Now just to take an example Windows Mobile including the 6.1 editions, are just as “UN-user-friendly” as the PPC 2000 OS was, since you’re really talking about UI and usability and not about the OS as such. Still the WM6.1 is put and used by a huge number of Mobile devices today.

Not to mention the return (yes RETURN) of the WinCE in various PMPs, GPS, Netbooks and also Mobile Phones (Meizu M8 to mention one).

I’m not sure what you mean by the rest of your comment, choice and pure individualism, but I have a feeling it would go under Mike’s “heading”: “Linux is for geeks, period.”
The mass market of a device be in iPhone be it MID won’t chose their OS or device based on those criteria, but on how useable and easy to use it is.

So that goes very much into what you are saying “define usability on a 4.8″ with XP”, but I’d like to differ on this subject because while your statement is very correct the Linux you see out there are just as hard to deal with on a small screen as XP, it is only now that we start to see these various “evolutions” of Linux that makes it more user friendly on them.

Bottom line is you’re really talking about UI and not OS, so it is only a question if MS will bring out an MID UI like the Windows Tablet edition were for tablets, or if we will have to rely on 3rd party SW developer, just like there are several of UIs for CarPC’s if you’re at all following that market. That market already has UIs that make Windows fully useable with one finger on a 4-7″ screen:

the story .. the blog: http://atmail.com/blog/2009/atmail-mobile-office-hits-the-road/

If a company chose to do something with Moblin for example, concentrated on the usability and made a finished product with Apple-level quality and feel… well, customers wouldn’t care if the OS on their MID was running linux. Do YOU notice if your favourite sites you use with your browser run on Apache?

linux is not about a better OS than MS or Apple, but it’s a choice you make and it’s pure individualism and flexibility. if you don’t get that spirit, you don’t have to define it as something bad.

The only time Linux succeeds is when a company like Palm covers it with a coating of their UI and opens that layer open to devs.

You’ll have MIDs this year: one from Apple, one from Palm.

Oh, I can hear the strangled screams from jkk in Finland already!