Origami Project resuscitated with new software version

Even though the platform has seemingly been forgotten by many in the media after lots of initial buzz, Microsoft is still pressing ahead in the UMPC space.

At CES, the Redmond company is showing off Origami Experience 2.0, its upgrade to the original UMPC experience. While details of the full platform are not yet being released, the company is offering a sneak peek of four applications to be included.

The software will be made available for manufacturers for testing and pre-installation later this month. The first of the applications, Origami Central, is essentially an update to the first release. The application includes an optimized browser, media player, and RSS reader.

In addition to traditional RSS feeds, the reader would also be able to work in conjunction with the media player on those feeds that include some type of multimedia.

Another application, called Origami Now, would provide access to quick information on personal items in a widget like interface. Users would be able to view and access e-mail, calendar, news, weather, to-do lists and other items from the interface.

New to the Origami experience would be the Picture Password function, which allows login through a series of taps on a picture rather than the traditional alphanumeric codes used now.

Finally, it would include the touch settings application, which Microsoft seems to infer is essentially unchanged from the previous Experience release at this time.