Does anyone know why the fingerprint reader on the Surface Pro 4 keyboard is only available in the US? http://i.imgur.com/0GfZtzz.png
No NSA servers outside of the US.
New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
571–580 of 989 posts
Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
#572We merged https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10340117 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10340022 hither, since there shouldn't be three stories about this on the front page. Since the live event looks done now, we've picked (what I think is?) the most significant product URL to change to from http://www.microsoft.com/october2015event/en-us/live-event . If anyone suggests a better URL we can change it again.
Consider changing the title to mention Surface Pro 4, Lumia 950, Surface Book, and Band 2. The event was about more than the Surface Book.
Happy to, but won't people complain about the URL then?
Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
#573Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really like how this site does that, while other sites flood the front page with 8 threads of the same thing.
like when steve jobs died there was only one top story? i hope this is a new standard and not special treatment for microsoft - it's super helpful to merge the topics and other important threads should be also handled this way.
Not new, and definitely not just about Microsoft.
https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&date...
Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
#574Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a long discussion a few weeks ago with some friends about how in the short term, Apple messed up with iOS/OS X while Microsoft took the hard, long, correct route and made the OS work in both places. This was after the launch of the iPad Pro which is xbox-huge. I was imagining a product which was a MacBook "Base" which you could connect an iPad to as the 'screen' - except you'd have two different OSes that you'd…
Exactly right! The dual operationg system approach was a good short term decision, but I also think that Apple made a mistake, taking a long term view.
Oddly enough, Microsoft had a dual operating system approach back in the 1990s. It developed Windows CE for small devices like PocketPCs (PDAs like the iPaq) and tablets, and for Windows Mobile smartphones.
CE was also the base for Windows Automotive.
Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
#575Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly this ... outside of ThinkPad, many Windows hardware options have been pretty embarrassing.
I'm relatively unfamiliar with ThinkPads and happened to be looking at them yesterday. Here's my problem with ThinkPads (as well as most other Windows laptop vendors): http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/?menu-id=laptops Which ThinkPad are you talking about? ThinkPad X, ThinkPad T, ThinkPad W, ThinkPad Yoga, ThinkPad E, ThinkPad L, or ThinkPad Helix, or ThinkPad 11E? Let's say we're talking about ThinkPad T.. Which…
After a very long deliberation (few years:) I went with T450 (non-retina) this summer and I am very happy. I chose it over T550 due to slightly lower dpi (I have a a 15 inch Dell at work with T550's resolution and everything is unpleasantly small, on T450 it's fine).
I took SSD, 16gb ram, no DVD, 2 cores (quad core was very expensive) and 2 batteries which makes it very light, yet with proper screen size; very fast and the battery lifetime is amazing (10-20h)
Only thing I don't like is touchpad, but I usually disable it and use track point. I preferred touchpad in my old asus laptop which was lower than keyboard level hence one would rarely click it by accident.
I chose T450 over T440 since in ..50 series Lenovo readded physical buttons over the touchpad (in ..30 and ..40 they were replaced with touch zones on the touchpad and long time Thinkpad users were really furious about that on forums)
Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
#576Microsoft has been chasing Apple for a while now, but chasers never win, because they depend on whom they are chasing for instructions. They even hired the Apple store firm to do their stores. Now they are making notebooks at Apple's price points.
What's ironic is Microsoft has often tried things first. They tried tablets and hybrid laptops and smartphones before Apple. They even tried flat design before Apple. They have ideas, but some of their products have been just awful.
Microsoft still leads in the living room with xbox, the office with Office, and in the market (or big parts of it) with affordable computers. They're actually killing it with their smart phone apps and the subscription model. They even seem to be embracing open source. These are core strengths, and are areas where they are actually ahead.
Yet, by doing as Apple does, only later and weaker, the conversation is always about Apple being better and ahead. And the kicker is, it's true. It's hard working around the truth in America when it's this blatantly obvious.
I'd love to see Microsoft open source Windows and make it a subscription. I'd love to see them put Windows 10 on every device and produce a phone that could run the real photoshop, just as a statement, even if it sucks. I'd love to see them define a new laptop that OEMs could build instead of selling one and competing with them. I'd love to hear a competing philosophy and not just a product.
If anything, what they lack is philosophy, and a face that speaks it. What I'd love to see is a philosopher sharing ideas and inspiring an audience... I would do anything to see Steve Jobs again.
Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
#577Earlier quoted context omitted.
Microsoft's server software is actually top-notch and has been for years. Server 2003 was rough, but after that MS really started improving the management tools and allowing a lot more command line via powershell, etc. And in corporate America, Microsoft's Server products are near-ubiquitous. Consider that most of the in-house workflow tools at any company are built in Sharepoint -- and Sharepoint is actually a great…
> Microsoft's server software is actually top-notch and has been for years. I disagree because I think there's a lot more important things to a server than those tools. What I want from a server is versatility. I want to learn one server OS and use it for all of my server needs (for the most part). I can't do that with Windows Server because it's not a good platform for non-Microsoft technologies.
By that logic, wouldn't most/all server OS' be considered not very good? Linux isn't really a good platform for Microsoft technologies...
Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
#578Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know about that, I think you should give the tablet mode a try before you speculate about what it can and can't do. I use my SP2 a lot with the Pen and OneNote, which provides automatically digitized handwriting that is viewable and searchable from any computer. It's a pretty killer app but I would probably still be using pen and paper notebooks before someone integrated a screen and highly accurate pen in on…
Can OneNote data be exported to some open, editable format? I like the idea of OneNote's functionality, but I worry about having my data trapped in that application.
Yeah. PDF and XPS are two that I know for sure.
Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
#579Interesting, I think the iPad Pro announcement did them a favor. Now I'm going to have to visit a store and actually play with one of these things, could be an expensive fall season for me this year.
Absolutely. The Microsoft employee that came onstage during Apple's event totally knew what was coming and just laughed internally.
Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft
#580Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well the keyboard is in the stand, part of the battery is probably in the stand, all of the ports are in the stand, the dedicated GPU is in the stand, plus the stand actually lays flat while the screen is mostly upright so in any normal position the stand could only be a fraction of the screen and still not cause it to topple right? I guess the combination of all of that and perhaps a little extra counterweight if ne…
Very disingenuous of them to not include the full weight spec with the keyboard. my big worry with the MS hardware is its flimsy plasticky nature.
None of the Surface Pro range has ever been either flimsy or plasticky. At the launch, Sinofsky put wheels on a Surface Pro and used it as a skateboard....