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Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

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Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#121

Post by Turing_Machine »

alaskamiller wrote: post #86
mattiask wrote: post #33

I'm actually a Windows user (although I own an iPad), but you have to be a bit humored by all this. As usual where Apple has used a feather Microsoft have used the whole chicken with keyboards, screws, different versions, the whole enchilada. I'm only surprised there's no stickers. "ClearType display"? really, you felt you had to brand it just to compete with "Retina display". Despite all this the tablet might actual…

If it makes you feel better, ClearType was a brand Microsoft has used since the late 90's/early 00's. I know it as some weird pixel display thing designed to make text look sharper in WinXP. But, it was a hidden option that required third-party software to reveal to me. In Microsoft's world, they assume themselves to be the sun and thereby everything revolves around them and their cheesy need to synergize jargony thi…

Or as I call it "BlurryType". The color fringing drives me nuts.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#122

Post by kulkarnic »

sho_hn wrote: post #83

So they're not just going after the iPad, they're also going after the MacBook Air: The Intel version + Touch Cover was repeatedly shown with the regular desktop and apps on it, and generally spun as a sort of light laptop. Ambitious, and finally makes sense of their Metro/desktop combo OS strategy to a degree. The hardware to go along with it was a missing puzzle piece, and I guess shows just how important it can be…

Pen+touch+type seems like a great idea. It is something no other manufacturer has tried to do. I think the devil will be in the details, but this sure is interesting, because Apple's strategy is "people should buy multiple devices-- iPad, Macbook Air, Mac Pro...". MSFT wants one device that is a lot more versatile.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#123

Post by mattiask »

sho_hn wrote: post #83

So they're not just going after the iPad, they're also going after the MacBook Air: The Intel version + Touch Cover was repeatedly shown with the regular desktop and apps on it, and generally spun as a sort of light laptop. Ambitious, and finally makes sense of their Metro/desktop combo OS strategy to a degree. The hardware to go along with it was a missing puzzle piece, and I guess shows just how important it can be…

"We heard you like tablets, so we took your tablet and made it a laptop so you can pretend it's a tablet while you're using Windows!"

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#124

Post by jfoutz »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #64
bosch wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean how like Apple was so original with an MP3 player?

You mean a compact music player with a 2.5" HDD, room for 5GB of music, with 20 minutes of skip protection, a FireWire port for 50MB per second transfer, a click wheel for navigation, and a user friendly interface? Yes, that was pretty novel in 2002.

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#125

Post by InclinedPlane »

ashbrahma wrote: post #67

Microsoft has a big event, announces new hardware and doesn’t announce price or availability?

There's a good reason for that. These are going to run Windows 8, they have to, but Windows 8 isn't coming out for months yet. If they announced these the day of Windows 8's release they'd lose out on a lot of business because people would have already made other purchasing decisions in the interim. Windows 8 ready ultrabooks, ipads, etc. Now they're giving people enough time to change their minds before they've pulled the trigger and spent their money.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#126

Post by bosch »

mattiask wrote: post #52
bosch wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean how like Apple was so original with an MP3 player?

I'm not going into an originality discussion, certainly that argument has been made thousand of thousand times on forums all over the internet. Very few companies are truly original. Even fewer are successful while being truly original. But having the guts to go all in, be consistent and going that little extra mile will get you pretty far.

I agree with your thoughts about originality, but people always saying Apple does everything original is wrong. For both Microsoft, Apple and others they'll rarely ever launch something that's truly original.

Apple's timeline was iPod > iPhone > iPad (You could even argue that without the theft of millions of songs aka MP3's Apple wouldn't be bankrupt).

Microsoft's timeline was DOS > Windows > Server Products > Dynamics etc.

I would say it's very rare that doing something completely different than your baseline business is going to work. For that reason and the fact that the shareholders want you to be profitable is why you'll not see very many established companies pushing the edge.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#127

Post by Turing_Machine »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #64
bosch wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean how like Apple was so original with an MP3 player?

You mean a compact music player with a 2.5" HDD, room for 5GB of music, with 20 minutes of skip protection, a FireWire port for 50MB per second transfer, a click wheel for navigation, and a user friendly interface? Yes, that was pretty novel in 2002.

Yes, Apple is more about "making the first one that doesn't suck" than "making the first one".
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