Microsoft's Courier Is Officially a Zombie

Microsoft's Courier project might be dead, but a U.S. patent recently issued to the company suggests it can't quite let a good idea stay buried; the patent in question (D618,683) is for a "dual-display device," similar to the Courier designs that leaked onto the Web in the weeks and months leading up to the project being killed. TechFlash was the first to publish images from the patent filing earlier this week, in case you don't want to dig through the United States Patent and Trademark Office's cutting-edge-circa-1995 Website.

I still maintain that the Courier was a cool idea--possibly cool enough to make a sizable dent in the tablet PC market. If the early video and photo leaks on the tech blogs were any indication, the device would have featured a pair of touch screens connected, book-style, by a central hinge; users could have used those screens to write notes, draw longhand or cruise the Web. But then Microsoft killed the concept.

"It's in Microsoft's DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies in order to foster productivity and creativity," Frank Shaw, Microsoft's corporate vice president of communications, said in an April 30 statement following rumors of Courier's demise. "The Courier project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings."

The patent filing shows that, no matter what internal discussions led to the Courier project being killed, Microsoft thinks the idea is a good one--or at least good enough to keep from its competitors' hands. Does that mean the concept will be revived? Probably not--unless Microsoft feels the need to challenge the iPad and the upcoming Android tablets with something truly innovative. Until that hypothetical point, Courier will exist as a zombie device, shuffling around the bowels of the USPTO Website, moaning about what could have been.

Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains...



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