The humble mouse and keyboard are so ubiquitous that it is easy to think that there are no alternatives. Vista Home Premium and Ultimate now include aspects of Windows XP Tablet PC, making graphics tablets a feasible replacement for both the mouse and keyboard.

Handwriting recognition is not new to Windows; it has been included with Office since Office XP but it only worked with a few programs.

The recognition software is much improved with much more accurate results. It can cope with quite fast input and less than perfect handwriting. It is still slower than typing for a touch typist but it is a welcome alternative; I find that using a graphics tablet eases the RSI brought on by using a mouse for too long.

I have some complaints however. When the Writing pad can is docked at the top of the screen the border is very thick. As using the Pad takes up valuable screen space anyway this is annoying.  We know the transparency effects of Aero Gloss are impressive but showing off like this is pointless and annoying.There are also some Capitalisation problems. Like that one.

Perhaps the most damning comment is that I had to finish this post off with a keyboard, writing just took too much time. Still, it's good to see these kinds of features included in the consumer version.