Thursday, April 30, 2009

Why I like Maemo

jkOnTheRun ask a valid question this morning: “Maemo 5: Do We Need Another Mobile Platform” It got me thinking about why I’m so interested in Maemo. With Android, Moblin, a huge range of Linux distros, Iphone OS, Symbian and other…

Related posts:
  1. Maemo 5 SDK is Now in Beta. Get developing! The API is 'frozen' and the feature set shouldn't change...
  2. Maemo 5 hints at new Nokia Tablet features and timescale. Maemo.org has just released the first Pre-Alpha of Maemo 5...
  3. Sparrow-based Nokia MID. Did Someone see the 2009 Nokia Tablet? Before I say why I think Eldar Martazin didn’t see...
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

CNet: Price and uninspired software doomed the Tablet PC

In a CNet article today about the rumored launch of an Apple device “somewhere in betweenan iPhone and a Macbook,” author Tom Krazit takes the time to explain why an Apple device might succeed where others have not done so well up to this point.


For intance, he suggests that Tablet PCs and UMPCs were hindered by high prices and lacking software:


“As far back as 2000, Microsoft founder Bill Gates was evangelizing Tablet PCs, but a combination of price and uninspired software doomed that category to niche status. Intel and Microsoft then turned the hype machine to the UMPC (later rebranded MID, or Mobile Internet Device), which several years later aren’t exactly flying off store shelves.”


Yeah, he’s probably correct with the general comment. Tablet PCs and UMPCs have been too expensive and outside of some notably slick apps, there’s not much in terms of knock-me-off-my-feet software available for the platforms. If you ask me, much of this is due to the market that the devices are being marketed towards, but that’s just my take.


How does he think Apple can avoid similar mistakes? One is to leverage the iPhone’s App Store. That makes a lot of sense. As long as the forthcoming device has a display model similar to the iPhone an iPod Touch, I think it’ll fit in nicely to the current store’s product line.


What about price? Here the discussion gets a little fuzzy. Originally he sets forth a $699 price, but then moves on to suggesting that the device might be subsidized by a carrier. Could be. However, even at $699 I think he’s pushing the price envelope too much–especially in today’s market. It’s not a terrible number, but it won’t give iPhone grade explosive growth.


Also, in terms of performance the article suggests that Apple’s earlier acquisition of P.A. Semi is the key. Possibly its work could give a larger iPod Touch the video and full-browser horsepower it needs. Again, could be.


Anyway, explanations aside, I do agree with Tom’s closing argument that Apple may very well be in the best position to create a mobile computing device:


“If Apple is indeed working on such a product, it will have to get the implementation right to avoid duplicating the failures of so many other mobile computing aspirants. But by having awakened the public to the promise of basic mobile computing, Apple could be best positioned to capitalize on the need for something more.”



Monday, April 27, 2009

Can you take the paper model too far?

For those of us that love the paper metaphor for computing, you really, really have to watch this video:


Noteboek from Evelien Lohbeck on Vimeo.


Here are some screenshots from the video to give you an idea of what it’s about. First, open the notebook to a drawing of a notebook computer, turn it on, boot up to XP, type in Google to go to YouTube, play a video of someone handdrawing a guitar and then playing it,…you get the point.






This should win some kind of Tablet Grammy right?


[Found via Robert Scoble's FriendFeed stream. Video from Evelien Lohbeck.]



Sunday, April 26, 2009

One more for the Apple tablet rumor category

Asus Eee Hacks has one more rumor for those collecting Apple tablet rumors ahead of this year’s Apple Developers Conference:


Supposedly the post’s author has a trusted OEM friend that states that “Apple’s much talked about ebook reader will most likely have a 7″ screen or double the 3.5″ screen of the current iPod touch.”


Hmm.



Saturday, April 25, 2009

OQO Model 2+ Production Is Unlikely, Company Not Doing So Hot

OQO's pre-order cancellation and recent trouble lead us to believe that the company's not doing so well, which SVP Bob Rosin confirms by saying that their Model 2+ production is "unlikely". [BuildYourUMPC via BBG]

Thursday, April 23, 2009

OQO Cancels All Pre-Orders, We Come to an Obvious Conclusion

Despite widespread speculation about the company's health, OQO has been fairly coy about their financial situation. Now, they've canceled all pre-orders for their upcoming Model 2+ UMPC. Sort of like a dying company might do!

The OQO drama began to unfold a few weeks back, when a combination of leadership changes, message board rumors and canceled pre-orders through a large European retailer led people to surmise that the San Francisco-based UMPC maker was on its way out. They then admitted that they were courting potential buyers, but left it at that.

And now this: Chippy, he of UMPCPortal fame, has received word that all pre-orders for the lauded Model 2+ have been canceled, though he hasn't heard from the company itself. With a shipping date set at May 22nd and the company in distress, a delay might have been expected, and even excused. But a cancellation? That sounds an awful low like a death knell. [SlashGear]

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Hualu UCG501 MID looks familiar!

Obviously it’s a sure-fire way to attract eyes to a product. ‘What was that? A new iPod?’ but take note of that optical mouse. When done well, these little controllers are excellent for navigating on hi-res screens.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Clevo TN70M convertible netbook available. 472 Euros.

I just reported that Mobilx have the Eking i1 available to order and now they tell me the Clevo TN70M is coming too. It’s raining new devices today! The TN70M is a device that JKK and I tested over a year…

Monday, April 20, 2009

Samsung Q1-EX Video Demo from ‘How To Be Mobile’

Smaller than I thought it would be and looking well designed (as always with Samsung devices) it’s the Samsung Q1-EX being reviewed by VIA’s ‘How To Be Mobile’ crew.


LaptopMag reviewed this recently and weren’t too impressed that the split mini thumboard…

Sunday, April 19, 2009

A Week On The Road with the Gigabyte Touchnote T1028M

I’m sitting on the ICE high speed train from Amsterdam to Düsseldorf on the return journey of a combined 6-day business and pleasure trip that has been a big test for the GigabyteT1028M. Gigabytes newest netbook has been in backpakcs,…

Saturday, April 18, 2009

New Sidekick LX brings welcomed improvements

I love competition. A company drops a device like the iPhone 3G integrating some great hardware, and quite soon after, all the other players realize that they need to update their own hardware to catch up. Welcome the new Sidekick…

Friday, April 17, 2009

Two-day TechEd pass for California residents: $995

As I mentioned the other day in the post on the excessive cost of attending events such as TechEd, Microsoft is making available some discount offers to this year’s TechEd event to be held in Los Angeles May 11-15th.


The offer shown at right, which I found on Hotmail’s browser page, gives California residents a two-day pass for $995. That’s half the price–admittedly for 1/2 the time, but let’s be serious, most people will only attend for two days anyway. The price is still steep and I have no idea why it’s not offered to people in Arizona or Nevada (Las Vegas) that are closer than even California residents from let’s say Redding. Even people in St. George are closer. Heh.


Now if anyone is interested here’s the deal for California residents: Two days, $995. Just enter the code ATCAVY4R when registering.


If I look at this offer with my recession wary glasses, I come to the belief that it’s twice as expensive as it should be. Sorry, $495 per day to see a keynote, maybe one session and the Expo floor is too much. Now, yes, someone might attend two or three sessions to “get their money’s worth,” but the reality is that $495/day is a rate best reserved for wealthier times. Let me put it this way: Would anyone from Microsoft give the goahead to their team to spend $1000 plus travel and hotel for a two day event in today’s economy? Not unless you really, really have to I bet.


Let’s hope this time around that community attendees not only use Twitter, but actually broadcast parts of the event live on UStream. Maybe we need to organize this a bit and be sure there are people willing to broadcast many of the in demand sessions.



Thursday, April 16, 2009

Mobile Dev Camp: What drives a Developer and how does it affect MIDs

The iPhone and Android devices were the obvious leaders at the well-organised and very informative Mobile Dev Camp in Amsterdam this week but it was very interesting to throw the MIDs and UMPCs in to get feedback from ‘mobile’ software developers.…

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Imagine Cup’s Tablet PC competition has me thinking

If only I was a student again. The things I could do. So many ideas are popping into my head for the Tablet PC accessibility category for this month’s Imagine Cup competition. In college I tried entering a couple of these types of design competitions. They weren’t for software, but were just as challenging nonetheless. My favorite was a chance to design a toy for Matel. If there had been one for developing a Microsoft Robot I know I would have entered that too :-).


The Tablet Accessibility competition has the goal to: “create a new education application that uses Tablet technology while expanding the possibilities about how a user interacts with the computer.”


Anyway, here are some ideas for Tablet accessibility that are bubbling up in my head:


* Adding speech is one challenge–not just to text, but to “describe” what ink looks like. I know this is challenging, but starting at the basics there might be some interesting possilibities here. Given some ink, say what it looks like. You could start with drawing properties and then progress into shapes and collections of shapes. Quite challenging, but it would be fun to work on. Sometimes, you know, it’s best to take on hard problems when you don’t know they can’t be done. This is one of those cases.


* The Math Input Panel in Windows 7 supports handwritten input, that’s not bad, but what if you have an existing or partial equation that you want to “fill out” with ink and have recognized? How might that be used in a classroom app to make it more accessible to students?


* Practice is the key to learning something, whether it’s learning how to drive, or learning how to write or even draw. Lots of tracing, recording, playback possibilities here, some that are very classic education based and some edutainment oriented.


These are just a couple thoughts. A brainstorming session would surely spawn a dozen other ideas. In fact, is there something like this online where students could gather online and brainstorm? Hmmm. Maybe there’s an accessibility twist here? Let’s see ink, a whiteboard, ….hmmm.


There are only a few days left in this round, so if you know of an enterprising student developers, pass this link along. Who knows if they might win. $8,000 doesn’t sound that shabby.


Remember round one of the competition ends this month, April 30th at 11:59 PM GMT.



Tuesday, April 14, 2009

UMID Mbook (retail) Unboxing and Overview by Chippy

This morning I received the UMID Mbook, a tiny, clamshell UMPC that everyone seems to be interested in. My opinion is that this is one of the best mobile/microblogging devices there is (and I include all smartphones) and that its…

Monday, April 13, 2009

Quick thoughts about Windows 7 on the VAIO P

Before I sent the VAIO P [Portal page][review] back to its home I dropped the beta of Windows 7 on it to see how it would handle the upcoming operating system. As you may have heard around the web, Windows…

Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Cream of MIDs and UMPCs in Amsterdam

Not only am I lucky enough to be going to The Next Web Conference and Mobile Dev Camp in Amsterdam next week but, with the help of Moblix, I’ve managed to pull together one of the best collections of MIDs and UMPCs…

Friday, April 10, 2009

‘Pseudotransparency’ on ‘Nano Touch’ Devices

This is really worth a read.


If the touch-sensitive surface on a mobile device were on the back instead, gestures like pointing, tapping, and selecting wouldn’t get in the way of the screen. At least, that’s the idea. But that creates…

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Gigabyte T1028M Touchnote (convertible Netbook) unboxed

Chippy from UMPC Portal unboxes the Gigabyte T1028 Touchnote.



The device currently comes with XP, but I wonder about Windows 7 since it has a multi-touch trackpad. The question is: Will Windows 7 provide a multi-touch experience via the trackpad? I doubt it, but I’m still wondering.


The screen has a single-touch resistive digitizer whcih is pretty responsive, but that’s not going to get you the smooth scrolling (which requires a multi-touch digitizer) in Windows 7.


In terms of size and weight, the t1028 is not bad, though I’d like even thinner and lighter. With a 4 cell battery (3+ hours) it comes in at just under three pounds at 2.9lbs. Thicknesswise, we’re talking about 1.5.” Again, not bad considering other devices, but we’re not into the NEC LitePad range either.


You can check out the full specs of the t1028 on the Gigabyte site by clicking here.


Here’s my take: If you’re looking for a touch capable, highly portable Netbook, this is worth checking out. However, in Tablet PC terms I’m not so convinced that it’s going to ignite the Tablet Netbook market like let’s say the ASUS EEE PC did in the Netbook space itself.


I’m looking for something that really stretches the envelope here. Maybe the Intel Moorestown processor (with its lower power requirements) to be released in the fall is the key. I don’t know. But it seems to me that we need to get lighter and thinner.


I’m also more of a fan of thin slate designs than thicker convertible ones. Give me a sub pound device that’s less than a 1/2″ thick in the sub $1000 category and I think you have a game changer on the business side. Push the price down by a factor of 1/3 to 1/2 and I think you also shake up the consumer space. This is what I’m looking for.


Until I see something like this, my eyes are looking at the eReader space. The difference is going to be between eReaders running a sub OS and devices like the Atom-based Netbooks that run a full OS (albeit XP for now). For reading and notetaking I’m predicting the eReaders are going to grow into this market opportunity. Netbooks or whatever they will be called down the road will always be more generic and powerful devices.


Now in the interim, I’m also leaning more in the direction of something like the TechCrunch Tablet. Yes, slate wins out for me when it comes to smaller devices. I still want a keyboard-based notebook and/or desktop for heavy work, but for reading at least a slate is the clear winner for me. Based on the posted enthusiasm for the TechCrunch Tablet or the mythical Apple Tablet (aka larger iPod Touch) I think there are a lot of people like myself.



Monday, April 6, 2009

How dynamic does a digital book need to be?

The New York Times has an interesting article today on the future model of digital books. The article ponders book concepts that go beyond static media and include video, Twitter streams and the like. In particular, they focus on a new venture by Dradley Inman, called VBook.tv, that’s attempting to build what I’d call multi-media digital content.


I’ve been thinking a lot about digital books, content and devices lately and I’ve been wondering if there’s not a sweet spot here for more static digital content rather than video-ladden ones. Sounds like I’m suggesting for the market to go the wrong way, but hey, why not think through the possibilities on this lazy Sunday morning.


Here goes.


First, let me set the stage. I’m thinking here in terms of a device of some kind that might be appropriate for K-8 classes and the like here in the US and abroad. I’m thinking of something dirt cheap, durable, and trivial to use and manage, yet still holds the properties of digital content that we know and love: namely the ability to send and receive digital pages (like pages from a book) and in some way support user interaction with the content. In terms of user interaction, I’m contemplating something simple. Very simple. Let’s say not more interaction than you might see with a kid writing in a workbook. This means animations, videos and the like are not at the top of the priority list. It’s fine if they can be supported, but what if they aren’t considered that important? How much can be done.


Off and on I’ve seen TV news reports where kids in schools (here and the US) are shown using a small chalkboard or whiteboard. Makes sense. They are dirt cheap, rugged, mobile, don’t consume many resources (electricity, paper, etc), and best of all are usable. The devices are used to write out little problems or write out answers and the like. For instance, they might work out the solution to a math problem or practice spell a word. Nothing substantial. Primarily throwaway content, yet still useful practice work.


Anyway, this has gotten me thinking: What if there was a whiteboard device like this that students could use which supported handwritten input and which also was capable of receiving and displaying workbook like content (probably a page at a time) that they could mark up and then submit their work back on should the need arise?


So I’m thinking of something very sheet-of-paper like, which is not exactly up to the level of an eBook device, but for the sake of this discussion, let’s keep going.


Here’s a quick sketch of the general concept: A student is sitting on the floor handwriting an answer to a series of problem which are distributed from the school’s computer infrastructure to the student’s device and back. Optionally, the student could write out the problem too, but I want to see if it’s possible to mix up the capabilities of a whiteboard like device with those of a fairly static workbook that’s fed one page at a time to a handheld device.


Now, if money is no issue, there are already great devices that can fit this bill. A slate Tablet PC is one of them. The only problem(s)? They’re a bit too expensive for most school budgets, they’re not exactly robust, they consume so much power they need to be charged at least once during the day, and they, quite frankly, are too heavy for most young kids to use.


Now an Amazon Kindle like device is going the right direction and if it supported pen input it would be even better. The Kindle device is not a bad match overall, although the eInk display is kind of small. That’s the one catch–at least for this thought experiment.


I’ve wondered, also, if it’s not possible to build a super thin and super light Tablet PC slate like this that’s more content oriented than let’s say OS oriented. After all, we don’t really need a generic computing device here. But, hey, that would be really cool.


OK. Here’s one design sketch I came up with.



It’s a single white board with a persistent display technology that can be activated with a sliding, single array dot-matrix like print head or a pen.


Some may ask: Why not use one of those digitizing pen like devices where you can write or draw on paper and behind the scenes the pen is logging every move you make? The thing is I’ve tried devices like this and at least to me they all come up short. The problem is that you’re not digitizing what you actually see. The pen, let’s say if there is one to write on paper with, might place ink on the paper, but the digitizer might not be picking up the strokes because you’re not touching hard enough. You don’t know. You could learn how to use the tool correctly, but my take is that a better approach is for the pen to digitize the “ink” into the display and the display is what records the strokes.


To pull this off you could have an EM-like digitizer for the pen input and even a touch technology to boot. Both could be thin. Both could be designed with lower power in mind. Neither requires a lot of compute power.


Now how does a workbook page get rendered on a whiteboard device like this? Again, I don’t know. This is just a thought experiment. One idea is that there might be an array on the slider that injects on or off values to the mythical display. I’m thinking black and white here at a high resolution–something print grade: 600dpi, for example.


To keep things cheap and simple, the “print head” is manually slid across the surface of the whiteboard and as it is moved, position information is tracked and given to the print head so it can appropriately render the page it needs to. I have no idea if enough precision could be engineered so a sliding mechanism like this would work, but oh well.


Along these lines, I’ve wondered if you couldn’t use a coil/inductor approach to generate small amounts of current into the device as the slider is moved back and forth. In other words, maybe it could double as a generator. So in the morning or whenever, students could slide the print head back and forth a handful of times to recharge the unit. Yeah, probably kind of silly, but just a thought.


Now for the user I’m wondering if the pen a student uses could draw on the rendered page in some similar fashion to the sliding print head. I’m not sure if the pen digitizing process needs to be lower resolution or not, but it definitely could be.


Again, the content displayed would definitely be very print paper minded. No animation by necessity though it would be OK I guess. And it would be kind of clunky to use. Slide the bar to render a page. Handwrite or touch somewhere to provide input, press something or other to upload content or slide the bar again to get another page. It definitely would be slow to flip through a book, but that’s not the intent here.


Yes, a device like this would probably be pretty unimpressive to most of us that use PCs all day, but who knows maybe we could use one or more to display individual pages of one or more books at a time.


I also haven’t worked through the processing power requirements to see if it would even be feasible to update or scan this mystical whiteboard display device to see if any of this would work. No idea, though it seems like it wouldn’t take much processing power. I think it would be down in the Arm processor category.


I imagine if WiFi is supported even it could be supported by an Arm chipset.


Oh, here’s one other twist on this idea that probably eats up way too much power, but is something that might have value somewhere. What about a device with a built in, micro-short-throw projector that displays the content and some sort of optical sensor that could track a handwriting pen as well as even multi-touch.



Yeah, kind of an odd device, a portable projector-slash-multi-touch computer. If everything fits in the of the device, who knows, I guess you could carry it anywhere and use it with any horizontal surface.


Now with this approach, there’s animation and video support, but kind of cool I think. It doesn’t take much to imagine the endcap being self-contained and something that could be placed on other surfaces like a desk, for instance.


Just an idea.



Saturday, April 4, 2009

Tablet PC scores supporting role in latest Microsoft Laptop Hunters commercial

Microsoft released its second Laptop Hunters commercial today. This time Laptop Hunger Giampaolo seeks out a laptop from those on display at Frys Electronics.



Laptop Hunters #2 - Giampaolo


What’s so great about this commercial is that it shows off a Tablet PC–although briefly. Yep, the HP Touchsmart tx2-1020us gets honorable mention and a couple seconds of showtime.


The first glimpse of the tx2 comes early on in the commercial when Giampaolo is listing off the features he’d like in a laptop: portability, battery life, and power for under $1500.



This isn’t the Tablet PC’s only cameo, however, a few seconds later in the commercial Giampaolo is actually trying out the HP Tablet and has a few things to say about it:


First, while they show him typing with both hands on the keyboard he declares that “…the keyboard is too small.”



But all is not lost for the mighty Touchsmart. Giampaolo goes on to say “It’s got the processing speed I need.” He sums it up by announcing, “It’s a pretty strong contender.”


About that time the commercial gives a closeup of the tx2 and the Vista logon screen. You can clearly see the onscreen keyboard.



From the background you can see the price is $1099 minus a $50 rebate for a total of $1049. (The HP has the same model and $50 rebate on its site, yet shows a $1049 base price, so maybe that indicates the age of this commercial. It was probaby shot back awhile when the price was $50 higher.)


So based on the closeup shot’s view of the log on screen, you may be wondering if he had a chance to actually try out the Tablet PC? Yep it looks like he did. If you look at the first couple tx2 shots closely you can see that a user has signed on and that Vista is displaying its blue-greenish desktop with the classic Vista desktop gadgets on the right side of the display.


However, the $64,000 question is: Did he even know it was a Tablet PC?


Did he know he could write on it? Did he try Journal? Did he know the tx2 supports multi-touch and the forthcoming Windows 7 touch???? Did he know that you could twist the display? Did he know you could cradle the Tablet PC in his hands while standing up and writing on it? Did he even know it was a Tablet PC? Or what’s more: Did the salesman know it was a Tablet PC? Or did the crew filming the commercial know it was a Tablet? After all, no doubt the commercial was probably edited on a Mac, so it makes me wonder if the video crew knew what was before them.


I realize that these details might be too much for such a fast paced commercial, but come on Microsoft, here you have a chance to actually show a Tablet PC to the millions of people watching TV and the commercial online as a viable laptop choice.


Isn’t it completely obvious that if Giampaolo had tried out one of the Tablet or touch features of the tx2 that he wouldn’t have at least said something like, “this is cool,” or a smile or some other reaction of delight? Come on. I get responses like this all the time when I show people what Tablet PCs can do.


So while I’m glad that Microsoft at least showed a Tablet PC in one of their new commercials, I’m bummed that the commercial didn’t show the HP Touchsmart off as a Tablet PC. Instead, it got mention as a laptop.


Maybe next time.


In case you’re wonder, no, Giampoalo doesn’t pick the HP Touchsmart as his laptop. Instead, he purchases another, bigger machine for $1099. Oh, well. So much for portability.



Friday, April 3, 2009

Twitter acquisition rumors on fire

Michael Arrington started a firestorm of tweets last night and blogs posts this morning by announcing that he heard rumors that Google was in talks to acquire Twitter. Kara Swishes says it isn’t so. She’s probably right, but I can imagine Google is keeping its eye on Twitter. It’s a good match for Google.


Twitter is sometimes called a micro-blogging service in part because it has much of the feel of a blogging tool. It’s not just that it restricts “posts” to 140 characters, it’s that by nature of its small message size it promotes “blogging” frequency from a PC, cellphone, or whatever and that in turn gives it even more of a real-time flavor than other tools.


Some of have been questioning whether Twitter is a good match for Google or Microsoft or Company X. I think it’s a best match for Google in part because it could easily be transitioned over into a Google silo that slowly gets integrated in to Google’s other properties. You might imagine Twitter being integrated in much like Google has done with YouTube.


An advantage of Twitter’s real-time nature and increasingly widespread adoption (who hasn’t heard Twitter mentioned on TV news in the last month?) is that it can be searched in real-time too. There aren’t many places you can go on the web to find out what lots of people are saying right now about something. That’s what’s different here.


Now some say Google already has trend-analysis and blog searching tools. Yes, but think of their cost. They have to scrape and prune web pages filled with ads or other ignorable content or handle RSS feeds (often with partial content) all as quickly as they can. That takes a fair amount of compute power and electricity and…you get it.


So imagine Google leveraging Twitter’s content and infrastructure instead for its frontline trend analysis. The posts are smaller. The posts aren’t cluttered with extraneous content. The content data flow has a known pathway. In other words, the computational cost of processing Twitter content is going to be less than do the comparable analysis in standard blog posts. That’s the win.


Let’s say Twitter takes 1/5th the computational power. What does that save in terms of hardware? Electricity? Administration costs? And so on.


You’d still have to index and crawl standard blog content as well as Twitter status messages, but there’s definitely an opportunity to prioritize resources and save money yet still increased value.


Beyond this, there’s also still an opportunity for ads and the like, just as there is with other web content. However, to me, there’s a strong case for engineering practicality.


As for Microsoft, I don’t see as good a match here. Even though Microsoft employees and community seem to be adopting Twitter in fairly visible numbers (like at Mix09 and a partnership project like ExecTweets) and therefore would probably have to switch services if Google purchased Twitter, I don’t think this would be a big deal for Microsoft. They can build their own status update service, kind of like what they are doing now with Live. And if they don’t want to build their own, I imagine there’s always the more Twitter-looking Facebook.


Finally, the Twitter model doesn’t really fit into the all-in-one Live model even if it does fit in at a descriptive level. You can see how the engineering and positioning of Twitter are from a different DNA than Microsoft MSN-slash-AOL thinking. Might Microsoft want to become more Twitter like as Facebook has? Absolutely. But does Microsoft need to purchase Twitter do this? I don’t think so. They might if let’s say Google was to purchase Facebook. Microsoft would see Twitter as a competitive match. However, outside of this, I don’t see a Twitter-Microsoft deal. Google, yes. Microsoft, no.