I Go Mira

February 27, 2006 on 2:31 am | In Geeky | No Comments

I was just drooling over the though of browsing on the Nintendo DS simply because it’s small and easy to carry around the house (read that as browsing whilst otherwise wasting time defecating) and I happened across the increasing buzz about Microsoft Origami.

A while back, I was testing out XP OOBE code and had a Tablet PC to test with, now that was by far the most convenient away-from-desk browsing machine I have had – I don’t consider balancing an increasingly hot laptop on my knees to be convenient. So I was left wondering why there wasn’t a mass market keyboard-less (perhaps touch-screen) device available for browsing and playing media and then I remembered the buzz about the Microsoft Mira webpad/media player.

Now the Mira buzz all went very quiet a couple of years ago and I went from being curious about Mira itself, to being curious about the demise of Mira (from what I read, Mira became just a set of technologies to be included in future products much like Cairo did – although the Motion Computing LS800 does look a bit like the concept wrought in plastic and silicon and other elements). Well from recent developments it looks like the Microsoft vision of web pads is alive and well, morphing into the Microsoft Origami project…very exciting but to be honest i’m not expecting to be able to make a paper aeroplane, a hat or a swan out of it whenever a wifi connection isn’t available.

OrigamiProject.com – A Microsoft registered domain for what appears to be Origami viral marketing – although the whole Touch Me tag echoes the Nintendo DS marketing.
Digital Kitchen (Enter -> Work -> BrandTheatre -> Microsoft Origami) – A showcase for what a Microsoft Origami device may be able to do…ahem.

I guess the XP style interface in the video will be replaced with delicious Minty Aero Glass running on Microsoft Windows Vista Origami Premium Ultimate Ultra 1337…but where will the Gig of RAM, dual core GPU and pixel shader 2.0 GPU that Vista needs to show a frosted border fit in that somewhat larger than pocket0sized chunk of consumer product? Who knows. What I do know however, is that the device in the video reminds me of the Mira mock-ups (wireless pads with media abilities) and of Cario (filled with attractive concepts which will stay out of Microsoft’s grasp for years to come…ObjectFS->WinFS->OhFFS).

I’ve also heard that some other manufacturers may just be working on innovative touch-screen media devices with browsing abilities…so expect to see something from MS soon after! This all just reminds me how much I am itching to buy a device which can read my handwriting and recognise a URL without me first spending months giving it a Rosetta Stone of my scrawl…