Yes, you read correctly. I've been a bad boy lately.
I haven't been active enough on the community site. My team hasn't blogged in a long while. We haven't had any recent contests (although Emily did do that postcard contest that no one entered!). I've watched you all struggle getting Windows Vista running properly on your UMPCs, don't worry we do too! We've even been keeping secrets from "the devoted" (all you UMPC enthusiasts). But alas, all will be explained on January 8th. All I can say is to expect an all new experience. It's the best product work my team has ever done!
On a different note, I want to express my thanks and gratitude to the community members for the support the forums are providing to UMPC users all over the world. It is truly amazing to watch people from all walks of life reach out to help each other. I knew when I came up with the idea for this website that the earliest adopters of UMPCs would want a place to go to meet other users, to share information, to learn how to resolve and work around problems, and to hear directly from the development team at Microsoft rather than just getting fed the standard marketing talk. The site has been much better received and active than I had even hoped. We average around 30,000 site visits a day and get anywhere from 5-10 new community members a day. As awarenss of UMPC grows and more hardware and software comes to the market I expect the site to get even stronger and more vibrant than it already is.
As I think back over the past year, a lot has happened since our "Origami" launch in March. We've seen Samsung deliver multiple versions of their Q1 device to the market. We've watch Tablet Kiosk release their original 7100 series and more recently their 7200 series units. Most recently we've finally seen the ASUS R2H be available to so many customers that waited patiently for it. Now we're seeing extended batteries, new accessories like car docks, GPS pucks, wireless keyboards, etc. ISVs are getting into the game too like Slingbox making a customized player for UMPCs, Streets & Trips (Autoroute) 2007 offers a UMPC full screen nav mode, even the New York Times Reader has also been designed to work well on a UMPC. In the coming year we'll see new hardware manufactures enter the market, new designs that offer built in keyboard functionality, and even the reality of "always connected" with integrated 3G access. As exciting as the past 9 months have been the coming year I think will really mark the arrival of UMPC as a mainstream product that is here to stay.
In closing I just want to thank the UMPC followers for their ongoing support of the UMPC technology and the Origamiproject.com site. I want to thank the community members for keeping the forums alive and thank my own team for working so relentlessly to build products that will continue fueling the UMPC phenomenon. My enitre team will be at CES in January. If you are there, please come by the booth and say hi to us. We'll be in the Windows Vista mobility section and would love to meet you.
Wishing you all a happy holidays,
Dustin