One of the problems I have with UMPCs and other small Windows XP-based computers is that XP was never really designed to run well on a small screen or with a relatively limited display resolution.  Even at 800×480 some dialog boxes are cut off and many programs just don’t work as well as one might like.  That resolution is actually plenty big enough for most tasks, but the Windows XP User Interface (UI) just doesn’t make good use of it.  And I have some bad news… it’s worse in Windows Vista.  The new version of Windows is even more geared toward large monitors running at high resolutions.

So what to do?  We can wait for higher resolution screens to appear on UMPCs and that would certainly be welcome.  But even with better screens, wouldn’t it be nice if Windows really just worked better on small screens regardless of the resolution?  As it turns out, Microsoft has a great operating system with a UI that is terrific on small screens: Windows Mobile.  The downside of course is that the applications written for Windows Mobile are pretty limited in capability compared to Windows XP software.  So why not put the Windows Mobile UI on top of Windows XP (or Windows Vista)?  There is some precedent for using an alternative UI on Windows: Windows Media Center.  Programs written for Media Center are still running on Windows XP but make use of the “10 foot” UI designed to be run on a TV screen with a remote control instead of a monitor with a keyboard and mouse.  So why not offer a version of the Windows Mobile UI that works the same way?  Applications written for it would use a UI optimized for small screens and other Windows applications could still be run using the standard Windows UI.  In fact, applications could include both (or all three if you include the Media Center UI as well) for the ultimate in UI flexibility.
What do you think?

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