In the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) last 12 months, Microsoft officials shared their vision for what end users may well expect from hardware vendors through their next-generation ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs). At the Customer Electronics Present in Las Vegas this week, Microsoft showed its planned innovations for a few of its own next-gen UMPC technologies via the 2.0 release with the Origami Expertise Pack.Origami was the codename Microsoft employed for its UMPC project. UMPCs, by (Microsoft;s) definition are “a new class of computer that is optimized for mobility. With a screen size of 7 inches or less.” Many use touch, digital ink, styluses and D-pads, among other “non-traditional” input devices. Microsoft doesn;t manufacture UMPCs, but it provides the operating system and other base-level software that powers them.Microsoft is showing off the update,
Microsoft Office 2007 Pro, known officially as “Origami Encounter 2.0,” at CES this week. The new version will go to UMPC makers for testing and pre-installation later in January, according to a posting on the Origami Team blog. The 2.0 update includes four applications:Origami Central: an update to the original Origami Encounter within the 1.0 release,
Windows 7 Activation Key, the Central application includes a “fully-optimized browsing experience for UMPCs,
Microsoft Office 2010 Pro Plus,” plus an RSS reader. People can get feeds on new movies,
Office Enterprise 2007, audio books or other media by way of RSS.Origami Now: a program for one-touch access to e-mail,
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, calendar, RSS feeds, weather, to-do lists.
Origami Picture Password: allows consumers of cellular touch PCs to log in by tapping on a sequence of poinst on a picture.
Touch Settings: An update to the touch-settings app that was part with the Origami Experience Pack 1.0 release.Any UMPC fans out there? What kinds of software do you want to see from Microsoft and others for these devices?