XP Tablet Edition, but not on a laptop? Desktop + Wacom

[batteriesnotincluded]

My friend is looking at reformatting his desktop. I have a spare copy of XP Tablet Edition 2005 that I was going to use on my EEE w/ touchscreen before I sold it off for an R60.

His desktop, for what it's worth, is an X2 5000+ w/ 3gb RAM, 8600GTS, and a 12x12 Wacom Intuos 2.

What benefits, if any, would he get from Tablet Edition that he wouldn't get in XP Pro?

[heatlesssun]

You could hook a Wacom tablet up to it and you would have the ability to use the inking features. You could do that anyway, but it sucks with a mouse.

[batteriesnotincluded]

But would that be any different than what he's been doing for a couple years with 2000 Pro and XP Pro?

How would TE's inking be different or better than OS + drivers & software for the Wacom.

[Joe Average]

XP Tablet Edition was never sold as a retail product for any old PC, regardless of whether someone owns a tablet for artwork/etc or not. The only way to acquire it legitimately would be through MSDN/Technet, and as such are supposed to be used for development purposes, not personal use. Not sure what "spare copy" means so I'm curious as it's not something you can just go out and buy... ;)

By the way, XP Tablet Edition is XP Professional. The Tablet features are just addon applications the same way XP Media Center Edition is just XP Professional with MCE - just another addon application for media purposes. So, XP Tablet Edition = XP Pro with a few more goodies.

[batteriesnotincluded]

Spare as in I have 2 copies from MSDN, I'm holding onto one for an impending tablet purchase (X61T that I'd like to dual boot). The other license will either sit in my MSDN CD folder, or could be put to use on his system.

And, while never retailed in a fancy box that gets support from MS, it is available via Newegg here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16837102094). And, while MSDN and the OEM licensing are not exactly the same, I am rebuilding his computer, for what it's worth (and taking his old Athlon 64 3500+, motherboard, and stick of 512mb RAM)

And, I know that Tablet is Pro but with goodies, just a matter of whether those goodies are worth it or not.

[Joe Average]

I've owned a few "tablet" PCs in my decades, but honestly no matter how awesome I thought it would be own one and how useful it could probably be, I never actually used any of them (9 of 'em total) anywhere near as much as a basic laptop gets used in my hands. Just couldn't get the hang of 'em I suppose. Nice idea, and it seems logical as an extension of humans because of how we communicate in some respects, but they just never caught on...