Tablet PC’s and Windows

I have been reading a good bit on the internet about how Microsoft is way behind when it comes to Tablet PC’s running Windows on them. The big rage right now is the IPad and also Android based tablets. So why are Windows Tablets not more popular ?

My best guess is that the hardware makers can’t make a Tablet PC running Windows 7, which can handle the high requirements of both the operating system and the application software which will run on them. They have to put faster CPU’s and more memory on the tablets just to keep up and that makes them cost more and that makes them use more power (shorter battery life). That may be the reason why major manufacturers (Dell, HP, ASUS) appear to be targeting corporate users, rather than consumers.

So lets say I have guessed it right. Do we have to wait until Windows 8 or ARM based Windows before we can get a reasonable amount of horsepower out of a Windows Tablet PC ?

While we can’t do much about the operating system (Windows 7), we can do quite a lot about how software that will run on the Tablets is made. Common sense tells us that if we can write “lean and mean” (small in size, using less memory and fast) applications that require minimal hardware resources, then more is left over for the operating system. If the operating system is happy and our applications run great, then Windows based Tablet PC’s might become more popular and manufacturers can build less expensive Tablets because the hardware requirements are less. This would likely make them more popular among consumers (I surely am not going to buy a Tablet for $1000, but I might consider one if it is less than $500).

So is it possible to build such applications ?

Absolutely yes !

How do I know ?

Because I already can do it right now using EZGUI Professional along with the PowerBasic compiler. While EZGUI 4.0 is quite good, wait until you see EZGUI 5.0 Professional!

While dot.net developers are building applications that require 10, 20, 30 megabytes or more drive space, with PowerBasic and EZGUI I can write powerful applications which will fit on a floppy disk and run on less than 512 meg of memory.  EZGUI also sports a 2D Sprite engine (not hardware based) which runs great even on slower CPU’s.  EZGUI 5.0 has a new 3D Canvas control which has a 3D scripting language which runs on OpenGL. All in a tiny sized GUI engine! No large dot.net runtimes. No OCX’s. No DirectX (OpenGL is better suited for more common mass marketed PC’s). When I developed EZGUI 4.0, I did a good bit of testing on a PC with only a 500 mhz CPU, running Windows 95 (Yes. Windows 95) with 256 meg ram. While EZGUI 5.0 will require a bit more than that in some instances (ie. 3D OpenGL animation), it too can easily be used to create applications which would run well on a PC with only 256 meg ram and a 500 mhz CPU (ie. Windows 95/98/ME). Give EZGUI 5.0 a 1 ghz CPU and 1 gig memory (which is nothing for a Tablet PC) and a few megabytes of drive storage and it can do wonders!

By using the right development tools, one can build amazing applications that would run very well even on a less equipped Windows 7 Tablet PC.

Maybe Windows 7 could become popular (and economical) on tablet PC’s.