CeBIT: Microsoft Offers a Few More 'Origami' Details
Intel, Samsung partner with software giant on Origami Project handheld PC.Ben Ames and Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
Despite the buzz being generated by its Origami Project, Microsoft plans to give it only brief mention at the upcoming CeBIT trade show, even though that event coincides with when the company has said it will offer more details. The project apparently involves a mobile PC running Windows XP, according to a Web site about it.
The company will discuss Origami for "only 30 seconds" during its main press conference at the giant CeBIT trade show next week in Hanover, Germany, according to a spokesperson. Frank Mihm-Gebauer, who is coordinating Microsoft's press events at CeBIT, says that Microsoft partners Intel and Samsung Electronics will provide the most information to CeBIT attendees about Origami, since Microsoft has not designed any new hardware for the project.
Intel Tells All
In particular, Intel will hold a press conference next Thursday that Mihm-Gebauer says will reveal more details about the project. That coincides with the date listed on a Web site about Origami for its unveiling. And Intel has a Web site up touting a "UMPC" or Ultra Mobile PC, with details promised on March 7--the first day of the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.
Microsoft has been evasive about sharing details regarding the device since industry watchers began talking about it last week. The Origami Project now includes this terse description in lines of source code: "Origami Project: the Mobile PC running Windows XP."
To see the source code, visit Microsoft's Origami site, and click on week 2 at the bottom. Next, right-click anywhere except the flash animation box, and choose view source. The new phrase is visible at the top of the page of code.