Another day, another tablet

There sure have been a lot of tablets introduced or talk of tablets this past dozen months. And today is no different.

Engadget is linking to an article introducing the Sinchun UMPC–yep a tablet. I say ‘tablet’ with a little ‘t’ because like many of its contemporaries it’s a device that doesn’t have a targetted Tablet PC OS. Instead it’ll launch with XP Home and some custom software to make it tablet (little t) minded. No smooth Windows 7 Touch here; No high-quality Windows handwriting recognition; No Messenger ink; No math recognition.

That’s actually becoming the trend nowadays. That is, forget the XP Tablet OS or even a version of Vista or Windows 7 that’s truly Tablet (big ‘T’) capable.

I’m guessing this is all about pricing, but it’s a total shame. As Microsoft insists that its Tablet capabilities are premium features it constrains them to the upper Windows SKUs. All the while, companies are exploring the tablet market–what works, what doesn’t–with apparently little help from Windows itself.

Yeah, Microsoft is smart when it comes to business and has all eyes focused on the forthcoming launch of 7, but the problem is that the Windows-minded focus is leaving the Tablet-features focus in the cold. And here’s where Microsoft–not just Windows–had a lead.