Wednesday, November 27, 2002 |
20:40 - Can't argue with that
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2002-11-27
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Seems Gabe of Penny Arcade has himself a new Tablet PC, and he likes it.
Today's comic strip was done from start to finish on the Tablet PC. I started out by sketching the characters in Alias Sketchbook. It blows me away that a piece of software this good is free. One of the big problems with the Tablet PC is that there just isn't much space there to work with. Most art programs would take up the majority of your screen with tools and windows. However Sketchbook was designed for the tablet PC and so roughly 90 percent of the screen is pure white digital paper. The tools and options have been placed in an almost Sims like radial menu that sits unobtrusively in the corner. I picked a 2B pencil and started sketching. After a bit of screwing with the pressure sensitivity settings I was in heaven. I was able to sketch just as I would on paper and with the same results. In no time I had all the sketches I would need for today's comic. I think that for artists, the Alias Sketchbook software is the killer app that the Tablet PC needed.
I guess it's downright silly to begrudge anybody the development of a successful new platform, especially if it's sparking genuine innovation and a new class of well-designed software that serves the user's needs-- "delights the customer", as the marketeers have it.
It remains to be seen whether anybody will end up finding the Tablet PC's handwriting-recognition stuff to be useful-- after all, even a patently superior handwriting-recognition system (the one in the Newton and now in OS X) doesn't lend itself to much practical application. But as a drawing pad, a cheaper and more portable (and better integrated) form of the Wacom LCD tablets that have been around for a while-- which you'd attach as a second monitor on your desktop machine and draw on the pad/screen in Photoshop or Painter-- it might well have a niche to grow into.
In which case I'll have to give Microsoft points for behaving like a real, genuine innovative company for once.
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