The Marriage of Windows XP and Tablet PC

Tablet PC in its current form (to which this book is devoted) came about when Microsoft partnered with manufacturers such as Toshiba, Fujitsu, Compaq, and Acer to produce actual computer hardware while Microsoft developed the operating system - Windows XP for Tablet PC. This program is actually a superset of Windows XP that can run any standard Windows program and adds pen and voice technology on top of that - a far cry from Windows CE (a version that ran cramped little no-frills programs on 'palmtop' computers in the '90s). Make no mistake: Tablet PC is no handheld computer and it doesn't run on a pale imitation of an operating system. It's a very robust computer in a very convenient package.

Windows XP for Tablet PC has some surprises all its own:

Handwriting recognition: The operating system includes what may be the most sophisticated handwriting-recognition technology yet devised.
Speech recognition: It also has a speech-recognition program.

Remember Handwriting recognition lets you turn handwritten input into standard text with minimum hassle; you can even speak input and commands to your computer and it does what you say.

Being able to write handwritten notes into your computer, save them, and search them later is a seriously handy feature. Of course, it's a less than ideal way to input data for longer documents, so the Tablet PC hardware doesn't limit you to handwritten input. In fact, it offers you several options.

And what does the package that all these handwriting and speech features come in look like? All models sport an on-screen Keyboard that you can tap away at with your pen. Some models are designed like a laptop with a built-in keyboard that swivels and folds flat to convert the unit into a tablet-like format. Others offer a detachable keyboard.