Will Windows Vista…help sell tablet PCs? Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. About five years ago, when Microsoft first introduced the Tablet Edition of Windows XP….it was predicting that within a couple of years…just about all notebook computers would allow users to write on screens instead of type. But that hasn't happened. It's been a niche market kind of product. But Microsoft Senior Product Manager Craig Cincotta says that may change…because of the built in support for tablet computing in Windows Vista….

"Well I think what we're finding is that …for example, there's a new tablet that's out from HP, it's an AMD powered device called the TX 1000. And it retails for around 15 hundred dollars. It comes with a 250 gigabyte hard drive and integrated wireless and two gigabytes of memory. It's a really high performing machine. But it's also a tablet. And one of the really nice things about Windows Vista is, again if you're running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, as long as you have the proper hardware, so in this case a notebook PC that has tablet functionality, you're going to get tablet functionality within the operating system You're not going to have to go out and buy a separate version of a tablet operating system." It's no longer called the Tablet Edition… "Correct. It's just the functionality comes directly within Windows Vista Home Premium. The nice thing, and it's sort of similar with Windows Media Center Edition, is that with both of those scenarios being directly a part of Windows Vista, people can really use those right off the bat. They can also take some time and get familiar with it."

While some analysts have said sales of Windows Vista have been less than spectacular…Microsoft says initial sales were twice as fast as early sales of Windows XP. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.