Microsoft Origami: The Buzz Killer

Unless you have been living under a rock, you'd probably know what Microsoft Origami is. It's an Ultra Mobile PC running Windows XP.

Before going into the technical evaluation, let's see how it got over-hyped. Dustin has a detailed timeline of events leading upto the release. Even though Scoble agrees that it was overhyped, he himself is guilty of hyping it... Maybe MS should take a lesson on viral marketing from certain someone. Generating buzz is good... But you better live upto the buzz when you actually release the product. Which Origami isnt doing... Now, onto my thoughts on Origami:

1. It's a 7-inch Tablet PC which runs Windows XP. MS/Intel can call it what they want...
2. Any portable computing device, if you want users to carry them around, it better have atleast a day long battery life (>8 hours). UMPCs can only run for 2/3 hours. And most of the manufacturers dont specify their battery life. That isnt a good sign.
3. Early UMPCs are supposed to cost around $800 to $900. For that much money, you can buy a convertible tablet. And, the cost is supposed to come down to $500 in the next five years. Yeah, right!
4. It doesn't have any revolutionary features - GPS, DVB are all optional
5. And, it has a Celeron M processor. Celeron? I thought this was an year of Dual Core.
6. The only thing that I like in Origami is that Microsoft Touch Pack interface (the thumb interface)

As Scoble has rightly said, its neither an iPod killer, nor an OQO/PSP killer. He is right. It's none of those. It's a Buzz killer.