Origami – what is it?

Published on March 3, 2006 by Marcus Tettmar in Web/Tech

There’s a lot of hype at the moment over what Microsoft’s Origami device is going to be. As far as I can see so far it looks like it’s going to be a small handheld/tablet PC. Somehow I wonder if the device will live up to the expectations the hype is generating. Especially as the concept is nothing new. I’ve already got my eye on this little fellow: OQO Ultra PC. This solves the problem that most small computers have – the lack of a qwerty keyboard. I’m always answering emails on the move and I used to use a Pocket PC – but, what a nightmare without a real keyboard. So, recently I purchased this HP iPAQ hw6510 which has a small qwerty. It makes a real difference. It’s really good for answering emails, and even, despite the small screen, surfing the web – and it is a phone too – so I don’t need to carry around two devices. But because it is Windows Mobile I can’t run stuff like Macro Scheduler on it – which means I can’t test things out until I get back to a regular PC. So I’m now drooling over this OQO which runs full Windows XP Pro. It would let me put my whole office in my pocket. I wonder how the Origami will compare. Will it be worth the hype? Scoble thinks not:

“There’s no way this thing is going to be able to meet the expectations of the hype being placed on it.”