Microsoft "Courier" secret tablet
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN treats it as a gold-standard concept demo and a what-might-have-been for dual-screen and digital notebook devices.
What it is
A short concept video of Microsoft's unreleased Courier, a dual-screen tablet designed as a digital notebook with clippings and annotation. It was first leaked by Gizmodo in 2009.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2010 to 2021.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec widgetycrank · 2011-02 · on “The Next Six Months”
I'm not sure if anyone remembers the Microsoft Courier tablet demo, which came out before iPad's announcement: [this video] This video left me with a strong impression of future general computing usage patterns. It has also been my personal gold standard of a superb video demo. Interestingly enough, they abandoned it right after iPad's release: [LINK]
Recommends dhughes · 2013-08 · on “Ballmer forced out after $900M Surface RT debacle, analyst says”
I thought the Courier was a great idea not just for the dual screens but the software as well the scraps and notes seemed like a great idea. [this video]
Cites mmorris · 2015-08 · on “Ask: Do you still find any benefits in using handwriting?”
Like others have mentioned, I still do handwriting in a notebook, mainly because it's easier to sketch a diagram with a pen and paper than it is to do it digitally. Pros of handwriting/pen+paper: - Extremely high "resolution" (can fit a lot of information in a small space) - Flexibility - Direct input: tools rarely "get in the way" Cons of handwriting/pen + paper: - Editing is cumbersome - Storage/retrieval is annoying (no search!) - Sharing/collaboration is not as good as digital I'm still dreaming of something like the Microsoft Courier Concept [0]. We've gotten a lot closer since the concept came out (e.g., the MS Surface), but I think we're still not quite at the point where a digital no
Cites jahlove · 2019-10 · on “Microsoft announces dual-screen Surface Neo”
Here [1] is the original concept video for the Courier. I remember it generated a ton of hype when that video came out. [this video]
Cites wilsonthewhale · 2019-10 · on “Microsoft introduces Windows 10 X for dual-screen devices”
That picture gave me a big Courier vibe[1], always wished Microsoft could have made that happen. [1]: [this video]
Cites Nition · 2019-11 · on “How to annotate everything”
Microsoft Courier was designed to solve this ten years ago, by being essentially a digital version of a notebook[1]. You'd fill your notebook with digital clippings from any media and freely annotate them. [1] [this video]
Cites Nition · 2021-11 · on “Thoughts on “E-Readers” (2009)”
> But MOST importantly the way the user interacts with the interface would re-create the ease of use rendered by our interaction with print media. This last part, about the user interface, is why I believe Apple is best positioned to tackle this problem. > In one year's time we'll see. 2010 should be the year paper learns of it's destiny, the year we reach a tipping point on our way towards bits from the momentum of atoms. This is of course a prescient prediction of the iPad. But what it also reminded me of is a device that had already been shown publicly at the time: The Microsoft Courier. Microsoft was working on a dual-screen tablet that was essentially a notebook in computer form, comple