4 ms·

"The pen really has me confused. It would be awesome if it did more than it does. I am a little surprised to realize there is no preinstalled software that tran

"The pen really has me confused. It would be awesome if it did more than it does. I am a little surprised to realize there is no preinstalled software that transcribes handwriting into written notes nor does any Office application do that." I feel like hits on a big problem for Microsoft. They've come up with a whole bunch of fancy new gizmos (Metro, Surface) - but it's all resting on top of a mountain of random legacy cruft, and they haven't tied it together or done anything really to iron out the weird inconsistencies. Great, here's a brilliant pressure-sensitive pen. What? No, we haven't made anything for you to use it with. Nope, sorry, no accommodations for it in the OS. Sorry man - too busy coming up with crazy new shit (and slapping it onto small portions of the interface)! I'm using Windows 8 now, and, mixed with Windows Phone 7.5, Outlook.com, attempts to integrate calendar and to-do lists, being forced to use the monstrosity that is the Zune phone software, I have to say, holy shit Microsoft - time to do some spring cleaning. I really hope instead of charging on to the next big thing, Microsoft focuses on consolidation for Windows 9 - delving in to all the random nooks and crannies, clearing out the legacy cruft, unifying the interface, smoothing out the inconsistencies between Metro and Desktop, streamlining their mobile-desktop integration, streamlining their web services. Otherwise, god, how much longer can they go on coming up with the new Next Bestest Thing to mash into the pile of random crap that Windows has become?

stcredzero 14y ago
> The pen really has me confused. It would be awesome if it did more than it does. This reviewer is (admittedly) clueless about OneNote, which basically has its own cult following. He also doesn't seem to be the kind to be heavily using a "poor man's Cintiq." I look forward to a review from one or both of those groups. Yes, a stylus is kind of niche. It's not exactly obscure, either, though. I'd like to see reviewers go into detail about graphics and design related programs.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  Isn't onenote for metro a free download from the windows store? I tried to get my wife interested in the tablet PC (I have a Samsung tablet running win8 with a waccom digitizer), but she says its kind of small for sketching and the hand obscures the screen anyways, not as good as her Intuos; she has never tried an Cintiq.
  - alexgaribay 14y ago
    It is a free download. It's pretty slick.
- bhauer 14y ago
  My wife used the original version of Onenote back in the day on her Toshiba Portege tablet convertible. After picking up the Surface I called her up (she was working on a Saturday, yuck!) to ask, "So, uh, does Onenote actually recognize handwriting or what?" I described the silly assumption I had made that Onenote might have a mode for transcribing handwritten notes as-you-write and she laughed at me. Good thing the pen wasn't a chief deciding factor. I thought it would be awesome. It's not. Maybe in the future. The pen hardware seems solid.
  - gamblor956 14y ago
    I described the silly assumption I had made that Onenote might have a mode for transcribing handwritten notes as-you-write and she laughed at me. OneNote, or more accurately, Office, does have this feature. I used it quite a bit in law school on my HP TouchSmart tm2 (a tablet/laptop hybrid that comes with a stylus and which predates the iPad). It's enabled in the Office Language Settings bar/menu. OneNote also has an OCR function which can convert images into text (but not in realtime). It's only as good as the legibility of the image to be converted.
    - bhauer 14y ago
      Are you referring to the black handwriting panel that you can switch to from the virtual keyboard? If so, yes, someone else pointed that out and that's nearly what I had in mind. I'm going to have to give it a test run to see if I can use it efficiently enough. That said, my delusional/fictional Onenote--the application I had in mind when I thought, "Surface Pro pen + note application = awesome" was one that converted text scribbled on the page into digital text in-place as I wrote. It may end up being a mostly academic difference, of course. I look forward to testing the black handwriting panel.
wbkang 14y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kownnnxs7eI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kownnnxs7eI There has been a pen input method since Vista at least.
- cgio 14y ago
  Yes, this review was obviously written with very little research. On the one hand this, pen input works very nice since XP tablet edition. Even in windows phone 6, pen input was very advanced. On the other hand, the reviewer asks about how apps are closed. You can either swipe from top and drop it down, or on the left swipe you get open apps and can right-click/tap continuously to get contextual menu and close.
  - DeepDuh 14y ago
    A review with not much research is still a valid review - namely on what even somewhat technically savvy users aren't able to intuitively find out about Windows 8 usage. See also the inability to close metro/new-style/whatever apps. I didn't find that out myself when I tried Win8 for 10min or so. And it's not like killing those apps isn't necessary like on iOS, since the behavior changes when they are open, i.e. Windows button doesn't switch to Desktop anymore.
    - jkmcf 14y ago
      Additionally, the non-techy user is most likely never going to research how to get around their frustrations. First impressions and all that.
      - cgio 14y ago
        Somewhat agree with that too. Actually the non-techy user is likely to flood the techy with questions, until they get to the speed of use they are used to. Some will never close their applications or will do it once in a while from task manager. But, as non-techies, they will not even consider downgrading back to windows 7, either.
    - 14y ago

stcredzero 14y ago

> The pen really has me confused. It would be awesome if it did more than it does. This reviewer is (admittedly) clueless about OneNote, which basically has its own cult following. He also doesn't seem to be the kind to be heavily using a "poor man's Cintiq." I look forward to a review from one or both of those groups. Yes, a stylus is kind of niche. It's not exactly obscure, either, though. I'd like to see reviewers go into detail about graphics and design related programs.

seanmcdirmid 14y ago
Isn't onenote for metro a free download from the windows store? I tried to get my wife interested in the tablet PC (I have a Samsung tablet running win8 with a waccom digitizer), but she says its kind of small for sketching and the hand obscures the screen anyways, not as good as her Intuos; she has never tried an Cintiq.
- alexgaribay 14y ago
  It is a free download. It's pretty slick.
bhauer 14y ago
My wife used the original version of Onenote back in the day on her Toshiba Portege tablet convertible. After picking up the Surface I called her up (she was working on a Saturday, yuck!) to ask, "So, uh, does Onenote actually recognize handwriting or what?" I described the silly assumption I had made that Onenote might have a mode for transcribing handwritten notes as-you-write and she laughed at me. Good thing the pen wasn't a chief deciding factor. I thought it would be awesome. It's not. Maybe in the future. The pen hardware seems solid.
- gamblor956 14y ago
  I described the silly assumption I had made that Onenote might have a mode for transcribing handwritten notes as-you-write and she laughed at me. OneNote, or more accurately, Office, does have this feature. I used it quite a bit in law school on my HP TouchSmart tm2 (a tablet/laptop hybrid that comes with a stylus and which predates the iPad). It's enabled in the Office Language Settings bar/menu. OneNote also has an OCR function which can convert images into text (but not in realtime). It's only as good as the legibility of the image to be converted.
  - bhauer 14y ago
    Are you referring to the black handwriting panel that you can switch to from the virtual keyboard? If so, yes, someone else pointed that out and that's nearly what I had in mind. I'm going to have to give it a test run to see if I can use it efficiently enough. That said, my delusional/fictional Onenote--the application I had in mind when I thought, "Surface Pro pen + note application = awesome" was one that converted text scribbled on the page into digital text in-place as I wrote. It may end up being a mostly academic difference, of course. I look forward to testing the black handwriting panel.

wbkang 14y ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kownnnxs7eI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kownnnxs7eI There has been a pen input method since Vista at least.

cgio 14y ago
Yes, this review was obviously written with very little research. On the one hand this, pen input works very nice since XP tablet edition. Even in windows phone 6, pen input was very advanced. On the other hand, the reviewer asks about how apps are closed. You can either swipe from top and drop it down, or on the left swipe you get open apps and can right-click/tap continuously to get contextual menu and close.
- DeepDuh 14y ago
  A review with not much research is still a valid review - namely on what even somewhat technically savvy users aren't able to intuitively find out about Windows 8 usage. See also the inability to close metro/new-style/whatever apps. I didn't find that out myself when I tried Win8 for 10min or so. And it's not like killing those apps isn't necessary like on iOS, since the behavior changes when they are open, i.e. Windows button doesn't switch to Desktop anymore.
  - jkmcf 14y ago
    Additionally, the non-techy user is most likely never going to research how to get around their frustrations. First impressions and all that.
    - cgio 14y ago
      Somewhat agree with that too. Actually the non-techy user is likely to flood the techy with questions, until they get to the speed of use they are used to. Some will never close their applications or will do it once in a while from task manager. But, as non-techies, they will not even consider downgrading back to windows 7, either.
  - 14y ago