Remember the Ultra-mobile PC and the Origami Project front? Well Microsoft announced the new Origami Experience which is essentially a new program launcher under Windows Vista for UMPC users. It replaces the program launcher initially introduced as part of Windows XP Tablet Edition for UMPC devices and it looks as follows (photo courtesy of the folks at Origami Project:

The purpose of the new program launcher or “Origami Experience” is to greatly simplify the operations of a UMPC device – giving it a “great device-like media interface” according to the Origami Project. The new UI centers operations around four main categories – Music, Video, Pictures, and Programs.

What’s particularly cool about the new “Experience” is – this isn’t just a whole new program launcher – it’s a whole new interface on top of Vista that leverages the UMPC design, form factor, and purpose. As you can see in some of the snapshots of the interface, the new application makes heavy use of Windows Media Player 11 APIs to deliver a media centric UI. It’s hard to tell necessarily that you’re really running Windows Vista in the background right?

Here are a couple of shots of UMPC devices on display at the Microsoft booth and here’s the new Origami Experience logo introduced as part of all of this buzz.

 

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