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Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

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Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#241

Post by greedo »

mgkimsal wrote: post #85
dm8 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was surprised. Did they forget to mention about price and availability? Poor PR from MSFT.

From what I can recall, that's how many tech product launches go. Sometimes you get "3rd quarter" estimates, but I don't recall too many vendors outside of Apple giving exact shipping dates.

And this is why people will forget about this unless MS spends a bushel trying to keep it in view. This announcement just seems so clumsy. Microsoft just finished with TechEd last week, and could have announced it then. But they want to vaporware for a bit longer.

Seriously, no release date, no pricing, no real demo (rendered images instead), no software announcements other than Netflix and Office. This type of product announcement might have worked pre-Internet, but nowadays people expect to be able to find out concrete details and pricing once a product is announced.

No demo units shipped to Walt Mossberg or David Pogue, or even a John Dvorak...

This isn't like the Zune however. The Zune was peripheral to Microsoft's core business. This is central to where a large portion of the computing market is headed. If this takes two or three revisions to gain traction, then Microsoft might be too late.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#242

Post by noveltyaccount »

w33ble wrote: post #209

The Windows button is oriented horizontally. That's an interesting choice. Is metro not really designed to be used on vertical orientation?

Both http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/windows/apps/hh46542...

> Decide how to lay out your app in each view. Windows 8 supports landscape, portrait, snapped, and fill views. Users can put your app in any of these views at any time, and you want your app to look and work great in each one.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#243

Post by Bud »

jrockway wrote: post #165
Samuel_Michon wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pen+touch+type seems like a great idea. It is something no other manufacturer has tried to do. Apple Newton MessagePad, 1993. It had a stylus, handwriting recognition, you could use it with just your fingertips, and you could connect an external keyboard. http://www.flickr.com/photos/atow/4314242537/ That was almost twenty years a go. Newton was a very expensive experiment for Apple, and they have learned the hard wa…

On the other hand, nearly ever doctor or professional I've seen using a tablet was using a Thinkpad with a pen rather than an iPad with their finger. Screwing around with iTunes and doing work are two completely separate use cases, and it seems that Microsoft is more interested in "the Enterprise" than Apple is. So with that in mind, they're trying to accommodate all use cases. (I did have one doctor that insisted on…

"Screwing around with iTunes"?

You've either both not worked in any large companies lately AND never really used an iPad, or you are just blinded by platform bias.

The fact is that iPads are being massively adopted in Fortune 500 companies. And I can assure you that those users are not "screwing around with iTunes". In fact, iTunes doesn't even exist on the iPad, so you don't really know what you are talking about, at all.

(edit: Two instant downvotes on this, but I notice nobody is refuting my facts.)

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#244

Post by mfarris »

sho_hn wrote: post #224
chj wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think MS is going after MBA. sure, keyboard may be nicer than bt keyboard for ipad, but that doesn't make it a laptop replacement. the os -- windows rt -- may be as restrictive as ipad is, quite different from the windows for desktop. There is nothing inspiring in this product, at least they didn't answer a question: is there something new we can do with this tablet?

You're making a bunch of key mistakes there: a) Only the ARM version is running Windows RT. The Intel version I wrote about is using "Windows 8 Pro", which contains the regular Windows desktop. b) A BT keyboard for the iPad is something you need to select separately, and schlepp around inconveniently. A cover goes together with the device. Stuff like this matters. As for whether it's doing anything new, dunno. The th…

The iPad doesn't come with a BT keyboard, but there are quite a few keyboard/cover combos available. It's not something that you have to "schlepp around inconveniently":

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20091329-243/keyboardin...

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#245

Post by marquis »

el-mapache wrote: post #237

Did they run out of money to design the back or something? They can't have Jony Ive but was there no one else they could hire to approximate 60s era Braun? Like a 4th year design student?

I know - I opened the site and my first thought was, oh it looks quite nice. Then went to gallery and my heart sank that no-one had bothered to look at the thing side-on.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#247

Post by noveltyaccount »

prawn wrote: post #199

Some future popularity could come down to how flexible they are with that USB port. Can you plug in a thumbdrive and watch videos or play music? Extract or back-up photos?

It's Windows. Of course you can plug in a thumb drive. Everything you can do on Windows, you'll still be able to do on Windows.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#248

Post by recoiledsnake »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #156
drcube wrote: post #136

Can I install Linux?

On the x86 one, sure. On the ARM one, no. OEMs are not allowed to enable user key enrollment on ARM devices.

>On the x86 one, sure

I wouldn't be so sure about that. The certification process for Windows 8 sticker needs that. But.. that certification is done by.....guess who? Microsoft. So they could easily lock down their own hardware.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#249

Post by lunchbox »

MrFoof wrote: post #75
WrkInProgress wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe this is just a teaser video. It certainly seems that way. They are revealing the product right now ..... Look at the video they have for the consumer preview of Windows 8 ... it's more in the vein of what you are talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM5pFkNQ7no&feature=plcp

If General Motors aired a commercial showing a stationary car, and some bouncing objects, my default reaction is not to go to a Chevrolet dealer to ask further questions. My default reaction is probably a non-reaction, which is to quickly forget what I just saw -- or more accurately, what I didn't see. Come to think of it, perhaps General Motors is using a similar ad agency?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_OfzaZcz9…

That's a misleading analogy. Microsoft's goal here is not to get you to visit a Microsoft store, since the device won't come out for months anyway. This is the first step in a months-long marketing campaign leading up to launch.

The goal is not to convey information, but rather to form an emotional bond, whether conscious or subconscious.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#250

Post by sho_hn »

mfarris wrote: post #244
sho_hn wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making a bunch of key mistakes there: a) Only the ARM version is running Windows RT. The Intel version I wrote about is using "Windows 8 Pro", which contains the regular Windows desktop. b) A BT keyboard for the iPad is something you need to select separately, and schlepp around inconveniently. A cover goes together with the device. Stuff like this matters. As for whether it's doing anything new, dunno. The th…

The iPad doesn't come with a BT keyboard, but there are quite a few keyboard/cover combos available. It's not something that you have to "schlepp around inconveniently": http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20091329-243/keyboardin...

But these all look rather clunky and unattractive, and the point about needing to select among them still stands. They'll always be niche accessoires for that reason.

The Touch Cover is a sanctioned, obvious choice. It's simple to grok. The iPad doesn't have that yet.

It doesn't even matter if the clunky-looking ones perform better, or serve an edge case better.

This is Microsoft learning from Apple. What you're doing is a role-reversal of the situation where anti-Apple folks point to some obscure niche solution as equivalent to Apple integration.

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