Update on the Tablet PC Group option issue in Vista

Yesterday, I posted an editorial on the decision that Microsoft made to move the Tablet PC programs group deeper within the Programs menu and hide it under the Accessories group instead of making it a top level group option. 

I submitted this as a bug yesterday, and suprisingly, heard back on that issue today. Apparently, there was a decision made, between beta 2 and build 5472, that the Tablet PC programs group needed to be moved underneath Accessories. I advised Microsoft that I felt like they were making a mistake in usability for the new Tablet PC user, as well as sending the wrong message about Tablet PC features and its place within Vista.

By hiding Tablet PC underneath Accessories, Microsoft is telling people “Tablet PC is an add-on and not a signficant part of Vista. It is to be considered just as important as Wordpad, but not as important a feature as Windows Mail. Thank you for buying a Tablet PC and good luck trying to find the programs on how to use it.”  It is one of those subtle messages that doesn’t need to be sent.