The "tabletcomputers" are a dream pursued by the computer industry does anything less than 42 años.Quien iPad attended the launch last week and saw the set, shiny and full of tricks being proudly paraded before the press by Steve Jobs, could find all "very modern". The truth is that "tabletcomputers" are a dream pursued by the computer industry does nothing less than 42 years. Yes, you read that correctly: nearly half a century.
Learn the history of the tablets
It is easy to understand the fascination with the concept: a tablet represents the marriage of the sophistication of a computer, with its infinite possibilities, with the ease of use of the couple "notebook and pen" with which we are all accustomed. It is a kind of Holy Grail of usability. Keyboards have 106 keys - joystick, and mouse to push rollers on the table "Forget all that: just point and scratching.
But the way to the iPad was tortuous, full of ideas too fantastic, too expensive or simply not interesting enough to be successful among users.
See below some of the ancestors of the new Apple laptop and gives a peek at what the future holds for us.
The beginning of everything: Dynabook
The first engineer who proposed the idea of a tablet computer format was Alan Kay, computer scientist pioneer in areas such as graphical interfaces and object-oriented programming. In 1968, Kay described the Dynabook concept of a "personal computer for children of all ages.
At the time, the specifications of the machine seemed to fiction: the Dynabook should be the size of a notebook, weighing not more than 1.8 kg, have a graphic display capable of displaying at least 4 thousand characters with "print quality" (in alphabets such as Latin and Sanskrit) and contrast similar to printed paper, enough memory for 500 pages of text, audio or several hours. All this at a price not exceeding $ 500.
Until the technology for the Dynabook was developed, Alan Kay and his team worked with machinery they saw as "! Dynabooks Interim", identical in all except size and cost requirements. One of these machines was the "High", Xerox, one of the first computers with graphical interface, which later influenced the development of the Macintosh and, indirectly, of PC's as we know them today.
But the main concept of the Dynabook was not the hardware and software if a series of educational activities in a new programming language named Smalltalk. The idea was revived in the XO-1 (the laptop from U.S. $ 100) OLPC project, which has an interface (named Sugar) focusing on activities, and a programming language, easy to use and suitable for children called "Squeak", derived from Smalltalk.
And while today we have enough technology to create hardware with the characteristics of a Dynabook, Alan Kay believes that his invention does not yet exist for missing a crucial point: the software. The closest is just the XO-1 project in which Alan Kay is actively connected. "Shy" boxed idea
In 1983, Apple hired the firm Frog Design to bring to life the concept of a tablet computer. The prototype was dubbed the "Bashful" (shy), in reference to the Snow White (Snow White), a new visual identity that was being developed for Apple products and that came to market in 1984 with the Apple IIc. Images recently released by Frog Design shows a tablet "square" with a black trim around the screen (again, does it seem familiar?).
The machine would be coupled to a base with keyboard, floppy drive and a system for transport and pen would be used for selecting objects on the screen. The Shy probably never became a "mock-up, a nonfunctional model created to demonstrate the idea. But the "little seed" was planted and the Apple tablet concept revisitaría nine years later.
GRiDPAD: the first in the market
The first "tablet" as is presently known to reach the market was GRiDpad Pen Computer, the U.S. GRiD Systems, a pioneer who was also responsible for the first "laptop" as we know, the GRiD Compass, 1982.
Launched in 1989, the machine weighed just over 2 kg and measuring about 29.2 x 23.6 x 3.7 cm (small back then). The processor was a 386 20 MHz and GRiDPAD had 10-inch screen with VGA resolution capable of displaying 32 shades of gray. The internal modem was GRiDpad, connectors for keyboard and floppy disk drive and PCMCIA card input, that is, everything that a good computer should have the time, but in a format "mobile" powered by batteries with an estimated three hours autonomy . The operational system was a modified version of MS-DOS, with an interface that could be manipulated with a pen.
Tablet PC: a bet of Microsoft
In 2001, Microsoft tried to sign the idea of the "Tablet PC" laptops equipped with touch screens that were running a modified version of Windows XP, ready to operate with pen and some extra utilities and handwriting recognition tools.
The Tablet PC was not a product, but a concept, which joined several manufacturers. But many of the Tablet PC tablets were not "pure" because, in fear that users are not accustomed to using the pen, manufacturers have bet on machines "hybrid" mobile notebook with a screen that could be closed on keyboard turning them into tablets.
Finally, the idea did not go as expected. The tablet PC out much more expensive than similarly equipped notebooks and applications that had not justified the need for touch screen.
The machines never disappeared from the market: new models are launched so far and found a small market in some segments such as medical field, but never loved the public.
With the launch of Windows 7 Microsoft is trying to bring the concept back with the name of "Slate". At the opening of CES 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada, in January this year, Steve Ballmer briefly showed the HP model, fitted with multitouch screen and filming a PC version of the software of the Kindle, the Amazon. The machine hit the market yet.
Origami: if the first time is not right ...
A word that can be used to define Microsoft's "persistence" if an idea in which the company believes is wrong, turns to the table project is refined and relaunched until success is achieved. Examples of this strategy are missing, including Windows, Internet Explorer, Zumba, Xbox, etc..
The "Origami", announced at the beginning of 2006, was an evolution of the idea of tablet PCs, laptops and even more in a smaller format.
They were PC's with low processing power (and low power) equipped with a 7-inch screen (usually sensitive to touch), running Windows XP. Sound familiar? It's a very similar concept with the netbooks, but with an important difference: the price more expensive than a conventional notebook.
Some "Origami" had an unusual design, with a keyboard split into two halves, one on each side of the screen, replacing the small joystick and mouse. Because of limited processors (Intel Celeron, SAW C7, etc.), the operating system was running "heavy". The concept still exists as "Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), but the market presence is minimal.
Nokia 770: a Nokia that does not speak
Think Fast: Say the name of a company known for smartphones that also decided to invest in tablets. Who said Apple was wrong: this company is Nokia.
Launched in 2005, the Nokia 770 "has nothing to do with the motives for which the company is known, despite the name. It is a tablet for Internet access equipped with a 4.1 inch screen and a Linux-based operating system dubbed "Maemo". It was made to surf the web, read e-mail, play music and display pictures and e-Books, and was never marketed massively: in fact, was a kind of laboratory to study the concept, an "investment in the future." "" Mimadito developers of free software, generated three descendants: the Nokia 800, 810 and the brand new N900, the first model that integrates telephony resources, making it a kind of hybrid smartphone tablet. Modbook, the first Mac tablet
The first Mac "tablet" was not produced by Apple. Created by Axiotron Modbook and was, as the name says, a "modification" of PowerBook G4 notebooks.
The company bought the Apple notebooks, dismounted and was gathering the components on a new chassis, removing the keyboard and adding a touch screen (with pen) on the LCD panel.
The Modbook shooting the same operating system (MacOS X) and software for traditional Macs, and the touch screen (with generous 15 inches) was seen by applications as a table digitizer (tablet) as those marketed by Wacom, sensitive at various levels of pen pressure. So the machine became popular among illustrators, who adopted it as an "electronic table.
In 2009, the Axiotron Modbook launched Pro, MacBook Pro based on Intel processors. The cabinet was transformed and became more refined and elegant, with black finish, and the display was hybrid: in addition to the pen, also went by the touch of fingers. The price, however, was rather salty: U.S. $ 5 billion.
XO-3: the future
This is perhaps the machine that most closely approximates the Dynabook concept, originally proposed by Alan Kay. Not only in the concept of software, hardware and ideal for use (education) as well as the fact that there simply because the idea is too advanced for our time.
The goal is to reach the market in 2012 (ie almost two years hence), a "tablet" with half the thickness of the iPhone and a colorful touchscreen 28 × 22 cm that also functions as "e-Paper" to read in sunlight.
Most of the plastic components would be, for greater strength, and even have a connector for a wall charger: recharge energy would be made by induction. Technical details are scarce, but in an article in Forbes magazine of the machine designer mentions an 8 GHz processor (yes, eight gigahertz) with consumption of less than one watt and a camera on the back of the appliance. All this for only $ 75. About 40% of the current price of an XO-1, which was projected to cost only $ 100 but goes for about $ 180.
It seems an impossible dream: there is still no technology to create a machine with these specifications and the price is absurdly aggressive. But technology moves fast, and Nicholas Negroponte seems happy to be content with the role of "visionary" instead of director. "We need not build it," Negroponte said at the Forbes, referring to the computer. "We just need to threaten it."
The idea is that, to inspire the industry and giving an "ideal" to be conquered, someone will accept the challenge and transform the idea into a product. More or less like the ASUS, which inspired the audience's response to Negroponte's idea of a very low cost laptop (the XO-1), created the EeePC 701 and opened the market for netbooks.
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