The form factor, and the weight, they experimented with widely. I've seen tiny Smart Displays; huge (REALLY HUGE!) ones, and several inbetween.

They were OK, I guess, but as peter Garner says, they need to be useful.

The trouble with the Microsoft design was that it was only a display. If the wireless went down, or you moved into the sitting room where the signal was poor, or you wanted to take the thing next door, it simply died. It didn't work at all.

As Peter says /m3 even a Palm Pilot chip inside, and it would have been useful.

Of course, then you'd have wondered why it cost so much...

Given the right form factor this could be a desirable device. If it could be the same size as a paperback book then why not stick a copy of Linux on it and make it something that could be carried around anywhere ? Or maybe even Palm OS - a big-screen Palm Pilot device would be very useful !

Edited by author 12-30-2003 06:55 AM
Price and that licensing issue are the problems, I think. But I'd have bought one if it was cheaper, or if alternative Tablet devices were much more expensive. A lap-screen is cute. And it ought to be able to leave out a lot of hardware - would it need a hard disk?

The catch is that PC hardware is commodity. Even Tablet PC is commodity - even with the XP Tablet Edition price premium. Last year it wasn't, but now it is. Any Chinese DVD factory can switchito Tablets. The things are being sold with XP Home and a screen driver, or with Linux.

You wouldn't notice licensing if the Smart Display is your only monitor anyway - and why not, if it's good enough? And you'd have the full expandability of a desktop PC. Tablet hardware expansion is only by USB, which is okay, but costs. And with Smart Display you could just stash the PC under the stairs and leave the display on the coffee table.

But too expensive. And now, apparently, it's all over. Well, never mind. I decided to buy a Tablet instead, anyway.

.

Edited by author 12-29-2003 10:40 AM
No real surprise that Microsoft is killing off 'MIRA' or the Smart Display because it was never really alive.

But what about those poor suckers who are still promoting it?