RobBushway.com

Winning people over one at a time: “

When someone sees a Tablet PC in action, they just "get it" immediately.

Online, we continually see examples of Tablet PCs winning the hearts of people one at a time.

I enjoy working with Tablet PCs because of the personal elements that impact and result from the product. Tablet PCs are about people and the way people work. This is best told through stories.

The thing about stories is that where there is one good example that someone shares, there are many others who may have had the same experience and just didn’t share it publicly (through article, blogging, newsgroup post, at conferences, etc.). I’m glad that Tablet PCs being talked about more and more, and you can find bits and pieces of these stories through resources like Technorati, Feedster, Google, and MSN Search.

Blogger for Fragments of my existence has a series of blog posts about his Tablet PC. He’s tracked the arrival to learning how to use it.

The Promise of a TabletPC

Life with my TabletPC

More Tablet PC / iBook

The best part about these posts is that his emphasis is on how valuable the Tablet PC is as a tool, and it’s not about brand preference.

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Saw this over on Julie Lerman’s blog.

The Economist Magazine, Robert Scoble and tablet pcs: “

Very cool to see Robert in mainstream media!!

The author mentions tablet pc’s in passing:

[At NEC,] Mr Scoble’s area of expertise was tablet PCs—laptop computers that allow users to handwrite their notes, and that have been mostly a dud, both then and now.

http://www.AcehAid.org

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Information technology leaders increasingly believe that the ubiquitous PDA will be eclipsed by other mobile hardware, according to respondents to the Health Data Management 2005 CIO Survey.

Asked which mobile computing device will have the greatest impact on health care, 43% of the I.T. leaders surveyed picked the Tablet PC. In addition, 21% chose smart phones as the mobile hardware likely to have the biggest impact, followed by subnotebooks (20%) and PDAs (14%.).

Mobile Health Data | The Hand-held Health Care Authority

Talks between Verizon and MCI advance: “

Merger talks between Verizon Communications and MCI Inc. have advanced, and the two companies could announce a deal in the next few days, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

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Good Microsoft Windows Anywhere wrap up from Lora Heiny. Lora was the engine behind the scenes getting the conversations to happen.

Microsoft Windows Anywhere Wrap-Up: ”

MWA Day 3

Yesterday was jam-packed with conversation about how to grow the Tablet PC ecosystem, so by the time night rolled around people were ready to crash. Instead, we trooped to Midnight Madness and later to an art alley for night–time entertainment. I’m not exactly sure how many people were at the Tablet PC MVP party. My guess is there were over 100 people. I saw Julie Leman, Stan Leszynski, Robert Scoble, Mary Jo Foley, Rob Bushway, Trevor Claiborne, Nancy Lush, Linda A. Epstein, Jim Louderback, Mac McCarthy, Josh Einstein, Tom Clarkson, Buzz Bruggeman”

Great stuff from Loren on OEMs, ISVs, and Tablet PCs.

Thinking in the box: “

One of the best panels in the Business Track at MWA was the OEM Panel led by Robert Scoble.

I imagine there are a lot of Tablet ISVs that would like to have their software bundled with Tablets, or have flyers included in their boxes, or possibly go on a sales call with the hardware teams. And the panel went a long way to "answer" this question. The take away? Don’t count on it.

Here’s the underlying issue. For the majority of Tablet hardware folks, their sales forces are quota driven and they’re going to sell to their existing customer base. Period. They need large sales. They need sales they know they can get. Plus, Tablets are only a small portion of their entire business so they get a proportionate amount of attention.

Now it’s not all that bad. If you have a Tablet product that targets enterprises and complements Oracle, Siebel, and other existing enterprise products and you have existing customers that overlap their customers, then they might work with you. To get in the door, one suggestion is to work with a regional sales force first, build an experience base with them, and then hopefully increase the volume enough and then attention (from customers) so that your product is on their radar.

So one tip: If you have a customer that like”

Here is some more from Jason Mark and his Mac to Tablet PC switch:

More Tablet PC / iBook: “

I wasn’t surprised to see some interesting feedback on my post yesterday.  While not entirely unexpected, I thought I’d add a bit more insight based on a few questions I was asked…..

First of all…did I do away with my Macs?  Heavens no.  However do I carry one with me wherever I go?  Not anymore.  My Tablet however does go with me.  Is it because of Windows?  Not necessarily.  I am a huge fan of Mac OS X, however I also think Windows is getting better all the time.  As someone pointed out from one of my earlier posts, I make my living developing for Windows so my switching to a Tablet as my primary personal computer may not be considered a "true" switch.  Even so, in my opinion it is still significant.  Obviously I’ve used a Mac as my "personal" machine for some time despite my working in a Windows world.  My personal switch to a Tablet isn’t about "giving in" to my surroundings, it’s about what better fits into my life.  If I could grab the screen on my iBook, flip it around, lay it down, and use it like my Tablet, then maybe I’d have not had a need for a new Tablet — but in case anyone hasn’t noticed, my iBook can’t do that!

That being said….here are some more thoughts”

Congratulations to Trevor and Tracy. Great job you guys are doing!

50,000! Spectacular!: “

Hey all. Today we broke 50,000 hits. The Student Tablet PC opened up officially on December 1st, 2004, so we’re very excited that so many people come to read our site.

I’m thinking of offering a contest to celebrate. I’m unsure of the prize at the moment, but I can get a copy of most any software you guys might be interested in winning. I’ve also got a cross pen that I could give away. Post some comments on what you might be interested in winning and I’ll see what I can scrounge up. Ideas for the contest are appreciated as well.

Thank you all, I never thought this blog would do as well as it has, and we owe that to you.

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Great article by Michael Hyatt.

The Master Task List: “

For several years now, I have profited from using a “Master Task List.” This is a way to group your work-related activities so that you do what you were hired to do and keep from getting side-tracked by “trivial pursuits.”

I first learned this technique from Todd Duncan, whose book, Time Traps, is a must read. (In the interest of full disclosure, my company, Thomas Nelson, publishes the book.) It is subtitled, “Proven Strategies for Swamped Salespeople,” but don’t let this put you off. Even if you aren’t in sales, this book has news you can use. Every page is loaded with time-saving tips and techniques for managing your workflow.

“Master Tasking” is the process of identifying your five to seven most productive, most important work-related tasks. A Master Task List is similar to a job description but more useful. It answers the question, “What was I really hired to do?” Here are some characteristics of master tasks:

They are usually important but not urgent.
They spell the difference between success and failure.
You have a hard time getting to them.
They are things you usually do on your own.

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Marc Orchant has posted about the preview release of Onfolio being available. He’s been actively doing work on this version and has some good feedback on hit. Link to the preview release is on his blog.

Onfolio 2.0 Preview Release – The Tablet PCs Weblog – tabletpcs.weblogsinc.com