Way back in October of 2002 we predicted that Smart Display, Microsoft’s operating system for wireless monitors that can detach and double as dumb tablets, was going to be an unmitigated disaster. The first ones to show up from ViewSonice, Philips, and others were costly, worked only with PCs running Windows XP Pro (which is a bad move for a consumer product), and to top it off, they couldn’t even stream video, the one potentially redeeming feature these things could have had. We called on Microsoft to put Smart Display out of our misery, and it looks like we’re getting our wish: Last week Microsoft sent out letters to Samsung, LG, and other manufacturers informing them that Smart Display was dead and that they were abandoning development of the operating system.
