Multitouch Ultrabook

It is expected that by year 2022 (only 10 years from today) a PC or laptop without a touch-screen would be considered as ancient as monochrome green screens (only cool in the Matrix movie).

As some of you may know, I have a two years old son. He has no trouble unlocking the iPad, finding any game he wants and playing with most of the games. When it comes to a PC he usually hits the keyboard with both hands for the noise that it makes, and likes to flip the optical mouse to see the red light. This tells you why people should have touch screens.

June 25'th I attended a local event hosted by Software-Sources dealing with various Intel technologies. When I attended the previous Intel IDF event I had my iPad with me. Three major advantages that iPad had for me were: 1. Fast turn on and off, 2. No moving parts, and 3. It is rigid. All these mean that I don't have to worry about it unless I use it. Using my laptop would mean that I need to make sure it is safe in the bag and I have to wait for it to turn on and then hibernate. The disadvantage that iPad had for me was that it was just an Internet toy. I couldn't access Outlook or any other office tool and running a product demo was clearly out of the question.

This time I had my Acer Ultrabook with me. It is rigid, takes under 2 seconds to suspend or resume, and runs Office and Visual Studio smoothly. (See this Ultrabook Review). It was simple, easy, and fun to use it. I have my workstation with me and then a second later I flip the lead and I'm out of the office and can completely ignore the device because it is rigid and lightweight.

This is all very nice indeed but this is not what the post is about. The event was The 5th Annual Intel Software Developer Conference. Mooly Eden was the Keynote speaker. You should never miss Mooly's sessions. This time Mooly wanted to tell us that the computer industry is constantly shifting from enterprise customers to consumers. On Y2K it was 2/3 enterprise and 1/3 consumers and today it is the other way around. People pay more for the experience and less for the infrastructure. This means that people buy solutions not technologies and now all these new devices are interconnected at all times so people can socialize. You can also download the presentation for Mooly Eden's Keynote (pdf).

As part of this change Intel two focuses: Software Tools & Parallel Evolution, and Intel in Mobility. It seems to me that Intel has growing interest in mobility. I am mentioning the Mobility Track because of the Multitouch Ultrabook presented there.

You will probably have to wait for a while before Multitouch Ultrabooks are available for reatil and you will probably want to make sure that Windows 8 is stable and you can get used to it. Still, it is very interesting to see the future on video. So here it is, the future on video:

It takes a while to convince my two years old son to use pencil and paper

But it was very easy to make him use the Multitouch Ultrabook

(Thanks Beatrice, that was a good idea :)

This was a very good event and I really enjoyed the exposure of new technologies. Multitouch Ultrabook was one of them. Another was a way to visually analyse and program TBB which was demonstrated by James Reinders. Here is what it looks like:

I don' t have a Multitouch Ultrabook (yet) but don't get me wrong, the Ultrabook that I have can make the difference between attending the event and staying back at the office. I have to have my workstation with me in case someone calls me with a question but carrying a heavy laptop in a bag is completely different than traveling light with an Ultrabook. Today most meetings I have outside the office I go with my Ultrabook, holding it as if I was coming with paper folder. No bag, no case, no worries. Most times I just use Sticky-Notes and Outlook anyway.

It is always good to thank the organizers:

Haim Ron (Software Sources), Ralph de Wargny (Intel) and Beatrice Fraedrich (Intel)