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Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

arstechnica.com

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Re: Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

#151

Post by komali2 »

mizzao wrote: post #106

The integration with OneNote is quite killer as well - you can plug in your laptop, draw as much as you want (collaboratively) on an infinitely-scrolling whiteboard, and then have all the notes from the meeting saved, digitized, and searchable, and shared with all participants.

OneNote plus a surface pro 3 were game changing for me in school. All of my notes digitized and accessible for study from my phone or whatever, an infinite whiteboard, a tablet + stylus that actually let me take written notes. They have a writing-to-text feature as well that unfortunately doesn't work too well, but we can't have everything I suppose. That feature requires an Office subscription though. Meh.

Re: Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

#153

Post by swiley »

AVobserver wrote: post #145

The Microsoft Hub is fine and dandy... but it is very limiting in it's ability to integrate with any and all meeting participants. It's great if everyone all worked off Microsoft products, but they do not. Example: I am in an office where 90+% of people work with Macs and iOS products. The integration between those two is not seamless by any make or measure. I would rather have a product that worked between the two t…

iOS seems to actively avoid integration with anything.

Re: Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

#154

Post by mark-r »

codazoda wrote: post #94
dom0 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't announce stuff you won't release? Like eg. Project Ara

As consumers, we might want this, but it's not a smart idea for companies. Their early announcements are tests to see if there's enough excitement long before the product is ready. If very few people get excited then very few people remember you never finished the thing because no one cared. Google, especially, is looking at these types of metrics early on.

Interestingly enough, Google has the best metrics with which to gauge customer interest - just tally up the searches for the product.

Re: Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

#155

Post by Marazan »

jamiesonbecker wrote: post #121
xzel wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say it did anything amazing/revolutionary. At the end of the day its just a giant TV with touch features. The key bit is they got 95% of "it" right, the "it just works" factor is huge. The integration with remote desktop, the feel of writing with the stylus, quality and feel of the plastic hub, skype integration, pulling off white board sessions to email, etc.

So you're saying this is an Apple product from the Steve Jobs era, but with a surprising nameplate? ;)

No, they've nailed it with iteration 1.

Re: Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

#156

Post by Zombieball »

xzel wrote: post #76
agumonkey wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did watch 2 videos of ~10min. It didn't seem as amazing as I imagined. Most of the features are remote + ink then mail. Nothing that revolutionary. Maybe I missed other demos (I can't find a video on MS website, I used youtube, various sources) I think my comment was too easy to interpret as lazy sarcasm, I'm just trying to get a picture of what was the setup before.

I didn't say it did anything amazing/revolutionary. At the end of the day its just a giant TV with touch features. The key bit is they got 95% of "it" right, the "it just works" factor is huge. The integration with remote desktop, the feel of writing with the stylus, quality and feel of the plastic hub, skype integration, pulling off white board sessions to email, etc.

Does the fantastic integration hinge upon using Windows as your primary OS?

A lot of MS software (Outlook, SharePoint, Lync) is not that great on OSX vs. the Windows version.

Im curious how well this works in an office of people using different operating systems.

Re: Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

#157

Post by jzl »

jimbokun wrote: post #93

"In a Forrester report commissioned by Microsoft, it's claimed that meetings start more promptly—less faffing about to get remote attendees dialed in or computers hooked up to the projector—saving 15 to 23 minutes per meeting." Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! Every company I've been at, I've seen this happen over and over and over again, every meeting. I feel like I'm the only one aware of how much time and productiv…

Spoofed brilliantly in this skit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYu_bGbZiiQ

Re: Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

#158

Post by wolfgke »

jdbernard wrote: post #19
wolfgke wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly this "lock-in" argument is often used with respect to Microsoft, but not with respect to Apple...

Be fair. I've seen the lock-in argument used all the time here in regards to Apple stuff, particularly in discussions of iOS, macOS, and the App store.

Perhaps it's my surrounding and thus not representative, but when talking about Apple they talk about "integration", while when talking about Microsoft, the word "lock-in" is used - for quite similar things.

Re: Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

#159

Post by brazzledazzle »

heywire wrote: post #128
keithpeter wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the fairly small organisation (1000+ screens in two sites) I work in the PCs switch themselves on overnight and do the updates then. I gather the updates are pushed from a server after being tested by the IT support chaps.

That is certainly ideal. Unfortunately, many (maybe even most) of the machines here are laptops which are taken home each night. I could probably overlook the Windows updates if it weren't for the noon full-disk virus scan every day, but that's a topic for another day :)

Noon full-disk virus scan even once a week is a great way to alienate your user base. If your enterprise AV doesn't support "start at a scheduled time or if sleeping/off start upon next wake/power on" then you need a new enterprise AV suite. If not that at least temporary deferment.

Re: Microsoft’s Surface Hub is now apparently a billion-dollar business

#160

Post by xemoka »

protomyth wrote: post #103
xemoka wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a nice feature, I just see people struggling with it far too often. The software is a huge stumbling point, and the finish on the TV versions really detracts from the benefits of 4k.

All true, but I'm stuck until I have a budget and a better solution. I might give Microsoft a try on the next go around.

Yeah, I'll certainly be seeing if we can try these if/when we get some funding for another "Smart" brand product.
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