A strange site has popped up recently and caused a little stir amongst the Windows communities.
Origamiproject.com is owned by Microsoft and hints at some announcement being made on the 2nd March 2006.
We don"t believe this is related to Vista specifically but we think this may be related to Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs). Intel recently announced that it was gearing up to a release "before April" of the much hyped mini PCs that include WWAN and GPS capabilities. Intel"s UMPCs are likely to be similar to the OQO computer released last year.
Intel expects a wave of new UMPCs to be released in the second half of 2006 from LGE, Acer and Averatec to name but a few. These devices will be running on Windows Vista. Microsoft has a habit of creating odd sites weeks before a major announcement to do with new hardware with Vista capabilities. The company did the same last year when it was ready to announce a design competition for Windows Vista PCs at startsomethingpc.com.
Update - Origami revealed!
The cat, as they say, is out of the bag. Origami looks to be small (approx 7"),
Tablet PC style device. A marketing company has a promo video for it online - see it here (click work, then "brandtheatre", then Microsoft Origami). From the video, it would appear that these devices can play back music, connect to WiFi networks (and possibly Bluetooth devices), and has enough power to handle graphics work and games. Like Tablet PCs, Origami makes use of a pen input device, as well as buttons on either side of the screen. The video also reveals the device will be available in at least two colours (black / beige), and has a docking station to match. We await Thursday for more details.