Windows Tablet XP 2005 cures many platform ailments
Better security, handwriting recognition are just what the doctor ordered
Follow @infoworldTonight was cinema night. In Collateral, Tom Cruise’s Vincent, the silver-haired hit man, still likable in a sociopath-esque sense, is sitting behind Jamie Foxx 's terrified character. And as Vincent banters about the bedlam he just left behind, he digs through his retro briefcase and pulls out … a Tablet PC. I couldn't get an exact glimpse of the make, but it looked like Hewlett-Packard's TC1100.
Although it's not my cup of tea, HP's tablet happens to be the current favorite at the Advanced Network Computing Laboratory (ANCL) at the University of Hawaii. Even so, when I've been there, I've heard plenty of complaints, mostly about performance, the pen experience, and lack of decent handwriting recognition. But these complaints aren't heard only in the tropics. Many users have uttered similar epithets, which have not, apparently, fallen on deaf ears. Microsoft has been listening, and the result is Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005, now readily available in Windows XP Service Pack 2 .
Although much of what's new in Tablet 2005 is also what's new in general XP as it pertains to SP2, there is plenty of Tablet-specific newfangledness as well. Handwriting recognition really caught our attention. Frankly, I was impressed by Tablet XP's original handwriting recognition because my previous experience had been confined to Graffiti.
But the handwriting recognition you'll find in Tablet 2005 is a noticeable improvement over that of the previous version. Not only does it recognize your handwriting more accurately and certainly more speedily, it even self-corrects on the fly. If you or the software make a mistake, the word the software is currently interpreting appears in a little drop-down box beneath the text line. Tap the word to accept it or make corrections before it shows up in the document.
You're also provided with a more flexible handwriting scheme. With the old way, you were far better off sticking to only blocks or cursive, not both. With this version, you can pop between them in the middle of a single text line and the software interprets right along without a hiccup.
Beginning handwriting text is also improved. You still start it using the Tablet PC Input panel, but getting to this puppy is easier now that its activation icon appears whenever you place your pen to the tablet's surface. Tap the icon and an input box appears, and it disappears almost immediately unless you start writing. The panel will grow to accommodate your text input and even has an upgraded version of the text-shortcuts feature, adding things such as www and .net or .com, with a tap of the pen.
During the movie, I was wondering why Tom Cruise would place his super-incriminating victim files on any Windows-based OS, but there he was. Turns out, he probably downloaded SP2 the night before and updated his Tablet's OS, which would include not only the handy tablet features above but the updated security features for XP Pro as well.
The update includes a new firewall and a Security Control panel that centralizes all the personal security software features the tablet (or regular Windows XP PC) possesses: anti-virus, OS, and application-vulnerability patch status, and similar features, including support for third-party personal firewalls such as Check Point Software Technologies' ZoneAlarm or Integrity suite. Frankly, I hope for Vincent's sake that he kept a third-party personal firewall installed because if the FBI ever got a Trojan on board his tablet, Windows XP SP2's new firewall has no ability to block outgoing traffic, which means all that incriminating data is going directly to the Naval JAG office where Tom Cruise can then easily prosecute himself and Jack Nicholson simultaneously. And the hits just keep on coming.
