It is kind of sad that this tablet experience pack is kept secret. Don’t they want developers to catch ideas and make something awesome out of it? I don’t get why Microsoft is hyping the tablet platform but not making stuff like this public.

My pleasure James. You and Kevin do a great job with jkOnTheRun.

Alan, thanks for the shout out!

My weekly column about mobile for CMP’s “Internet Evolution” site was published today — about MIDs at the CES — and I mentioned the two of you as pondering what devices to take on trips, including links to your articles about what to take to CES.

Here’s the link, if you’re interested (or even if you’re not ):

http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=526&doc_id=142913&

I saw that Alan and while it’s pretty insightful it is ultimately the consumer that will determine what these terms mean. Intel makes the chips but not even the devices.

Hi guys,

If you’d like some sort of “official” definition of UMPCs versus MIDs, Engadget has it from Intel

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/10/intel-explains-mid-vs-umpc/

Here’s what Intel’s Global Internet Segment Manager of Ultra Mobility says:

UMPC

* Business-class device for enterprise users
* Runs a “heavy” OS like Vista
* Optimized for office-use applications like Excel, Word, etc.

MID

* Consumer-class lifestyle device
* Runs a ‘lightweight” OS with quick startup like Linux
* Optimized for things like media playback and web surfing
* In 2009 (or so) Moorsetown-based devices will be classed as MIDs only

Talking sense here – price, size is coming down , MIDs are delivering the vision of a companion device and handhelds are starting to take off. Like you I’m a little disappointed we havent seen any killer designs, that you could describe as revolutionary. Maybe the Vilix or Digifriend umpcs will deliver something special- they dont seem to have got much attention.
Wont be long to CEBIT…