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Introducing Surface Laptop

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#491

Post by Baeocystin »

thmorriss wrote: post #467
Fiahil wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is notoriously famous for their automated and permanent /kickban. It's literally the first law when using their products : "Don't trust them and never put important stuff in one single place". It doesn't surprise me that your child could trigger accidentally one of those super ban. At least it's not that bad, they could have banned your account too.

Literally the first law?

Yeah?

I mean, I use Google products all the time. But I have multiple accounts ready to go, and everything important backed up offline, because I work in IT, and I've dealt with too many horror stories.

Google products work wonderfully until they don't, and the trigger to account loss may be a complete accident. And there is virtually no recourse when it does.

Their systems are not as foolproof as people seem to think. I've gotten other people's pictures in my photostream, and other people's appointments in my calendar. I'm sure it goes the other way, too, and that is something that 100% should be on your mind whenever you use their services.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#492

Post by sowbug »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #239
krzyk wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until you loose internet connectivity (happens from time to time), or go abroad and don't want to pay high fees for net access. Or when Google decides that you broke some of their rules (frequently happens in AdSense) and blocks all of your accounts.

I've never used a Chromebook so this is an honest question - do they not have any kind of local sync, so you can work on your stuff and then upload it back to the cloud next time you get online?

There are also local apps. The app platform is a little like Electron or Node -- locally-installed JavaScript with extra APIs that aren't available on the open web. Examples:

Caret text editor: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/caret/fljalecfjcio...

Text text editor: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/text/mmfbcljfglbok...

You can save stuff on Google Drive, and then it'll sync when back online.

People often say that Chromebooks don't have apps and that they're just a web browser. They're wrong.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#493

Post by hueving »

komali2 wrote: post #396
Mtinie wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very real concern. As a parent I think about things like that all the time. My son has a personal Chromebook and both my son and daughter use Google school accounts. The alternative, in this case using a Microsoft Surface Laptop instead, should raise many of the same concerns. With the tight coupling of online services and single account sign-on options that Microsoft offers, similarly extensive advertising…

Why do you worry about this? Do you believe targeted ads are more harmful to your child than non-targeted?

Are you okay with a big company having a profile about your child's most intimate questions as they age?

Children don't grasp the potential consequences of companies maintaining registries of people searching for really personal things.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#494

Post by johndotsun »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #347
ChuckMcM wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking it would be interesting if you could get ChromeOS for these new laptops :-)

I suppose. But Google already tried the $1K Chromebook with the Pixel line, it didn't do too well against the $250-400 competition.

I thought the Pixel line was more meant for internal consumption and as a tech demonstration for the capabilities of Chrome OS rather than as serious effort by Google to create a high volume mass consumption product.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#496

Post by valuearb »

belltaco wrote: post #487
microtherion wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside of the startup world, "making money" generally is understood to mean PROFITS not "revenue".

Sure, so do you or the GP have any profit numbers or even analysis to back up the claim "they're years from making any money on the Surface line" ?

We have the history of the XBox, which took ten years to make any money, and is likely still in the red. Currently, the Surface lines volumes are too small to give MSFT the economies of scale to make gem profitable.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#497

Post by zepto »

donalhunt wrote: post #369
zepto wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we should worry about google building advertising profiles on children, as they have been doing.

I do not believe this statement to be true. The privacy notice provided by Google for their G Suite for Education is available here: https://gsuite.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html It clearly states "Google does not serve ads in the Core Services or use personal information collected in the Core Services for advertising purposes." Is the evidence that indicates this is not true? Is this in relation to non-core…

https://www.wired.com/2015/12/google-collected-data-on-schoo...

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2016/02/goog...

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#498

Post by quickben »

oneplane wrote: post #368
krzyk wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At schools in Poland. You can't have internet access so you won't look up answers on the internet. You have just computer in from of you. It's pretty standard way of doing any kind of grading. Example would be for programming class or for office suite. You don't need internet to work in IDE or in Office.

How does that make for a reliable exam? In the real world you use the internet all the time. The exam should be about your skills, and using information sources like the internet should be one of them. It's not like you can 'download' a perfect answer to a programming exam online, and if you can, then you deserve a medal because you'll be able to build applications faster than everyone else.

For job safety, if your job has answers online, you probably want to specialize to move out of that.

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#499

Post by panarky »

morganvachon wrote: post #411
donalhunt wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not believe this statement to be true. The privacy notice provided by Google for their G Suite for Education is available here: https://gsuite.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html It clearly states "Google does not serve ads in the Core Services or use personal information collected in the Core Services for advertising purposes." Is the evidence that indicates this is not true? Is this in relation to non-core…

They aren't using it for advertising purposes right now , but they can still collect and store the data on children thanks to outdated privacy laws. Once the child comes of age all of that information is fair game according to their own policy (once the child becomes an adult, if they continue to use their account or link it to a new Google account, they are automatically under Google's normal privacy policy which we…

And Microsoft won't?

Re: Introducing Surface Laptop

#500

Post by exadeci »

russellbeattie wrote: post #217

Do any of you have children at a school using Google Chromebooks and Google Drive? Calling Windows S a Chromebook competitor completely misses the point. Chromebooks are instant on, and your profile/data is 100% cloud based. You can grab any Chromebook from the rack in the back of the classroom, open it up, log in and immediately get to work on your report or whatever. I got an original Chromebook from Google I/O yea…

Who called it a Chromebook competitor?

They compare it to a Mac but I can't find anything about a chromebook.

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