http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8444672.stm?ls

looks like microsoft are trying to get in there before apple do… Microsoft and Rushing things brings back memories… "cough" Vista "cough"

It looks like a dwarf with an iTouch.

probably end up with the usual Micorsoft teething iproblems….. sent from macbook.

IMO worth waiting for the apple version

I like

Windows 7 is by far the fastest selling operating system in history.

Is that because people are trying to replace something very quickly?

windows has been able to do this stuff for a few years on touch screen laptops. The only difference here is the devices are getting nicer.

If they'd been able to get to this already, I think they'd steal the market.

his voice really grinds my gears.

i think (from rumours) that apple are doing more than putting an OS on a big iPod touch. like the next big step in personal computers – a whole new interface beyond touch. could be very interesting. i'm just hoping for touch gestures to be expanded on – pinching is nice and intuitive but more would be great.

incidentally, the rumours are coming from apple. quite clever how they get as much PR as all the companies at CES show on a product that is not released!

A truly annoying voice
But I like it…W7 would be fine on it. Better than waiting for apple vapourware

i wish that 'courier' was more than a dream also. looks great

er hang on, my Samsung Q1 tablet UMPC made 4 years ago thats now running Windows7 is exactly the same thing as this 'new' thing.

do you mean 'vapourware'? – that suggests apple don't bring stuff out. or that they announce stuff and then never release it.

that's kinda opposite to what they do. they tend to keep stuff secret then announce-release as fast as possible.

If they'd been able to get to this already, I think they'd steal the market.

The software can do it but the devices are currently boring. This is where Apple is good: integrated software and device in step with each other. I'm sure the itouch or whatever will do the same stuff nicer but a little limited and more expensively.

Sod all that tablet business…

WTF!!!! Ads on the BBC?

flamejob – are you not in the UK at the moment?

Naa.. I only go back to earn money!

ok, rumourware then

The software can do it but the devices are currently boring. This is where Apple is good: integrated software and device in step with each other. I'm sure the itouch or whatever will do the same stuff nicer but a little limited and more expensively.

Well, there's no single device that can do it out of the box that just works. A lot of my job is research and whilst I have my "systems" for keeping hold of data, being able to work like this would be really useful and I don't know a device capable of working like this available today.

bbc website runs ads for users outside of the UK

.. or inside the UK if you work for a US company with a VPN. Interesting to see the ads though. Anybody know how much revenue this generates for the BBC?

made me chuckle:

microsoft zune

Waiting to see what Apple come up with on the 27th, with their media presentation. I would be very much in the market for a tablet type computer. I have a PowerBook and an iPhone, the phone being used for most of what the PowerBook used to be used for, but a larger form of the iPhone would be really handy, as an ebook/magazine reader, web browser, and general portable electronic yumminess. OS maps will look a lot better on the bigger screen, too. I won't carry the laptop around for obvious reasons, weight and cost foremost; an iSlate would fit into some of my larger jacket pockets. Can't wait.
Same goes for the iPhone upgrade, too!

have to say though, as an apple user, (got an ibook & imac) had to by a windows based laptop, and made sure it's got the 7 on it.

So far, seems to be working well, still not as simple as I'd like it to be (still need to faff around setting up networks etc, whereas the apple just does it) but it's far better than I've seen for a long time.

I just hope that 'iSlate' turns out to be one of Apple's deliberate leaks of misinformation, making Ballmer look even stupider than he looks already.

Toshiba had a tablet many years ago, running a version of Win 95 with handwriting recognition.

I played around with one for a day, but couldn't see much use for it as opposed to the laptop (same size), but it was more useful than my Newton. I never saw it for sale though.

I suspect this is why Apple has waited this long. Jobs has vetoed a tablet before because he didn't believe it had sufficient promise.

I'll be interested in seeing what – if anything – gets announced.

well I had a tosh tablet, a hp tablet and a fujitsu tablet about six or perhaps more years ago, I don't see the fuss tbh

well I had a tosh tablet, a hp tablet and a fujitsu tablet about six or perhaps more years ago, I don't see the fuss tbh

LOL. And that's how market-changing products get designed.

I think the fuss is just that Apple have been researching tablet computing for 20+ years, and seem about to launch something new. We're relying on them to give us something we haven't imagined.

Might be a big disappointment of course. But they do have a pretty good track record.