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Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

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Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#411

Post by cubicle67 »

kpozin wrote: post #149
mattiask wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats what made it so funny. I can see the Microsoft meeting: -Hey so everyone talking about this Retina thing how are we going to compete? -Let's make up our own word! Do we have anything lying around we can use? -Developer: Well, we have this ClearType thing but it's really more about software... -Marketing Guy: Software Hardware, what's the difference. ClearType Display it is! -Developer: I quit

They've also co-opted the five-year-old "Surface" trademark, which is now called PixelSense: http://www.pixelsense.com

which redirects to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/pixelsense/default.aspx

I see the old Surface is now known as the Samsung SUR40

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#413

Post by kailashbadu »

jcitme wrote: post #379
heyitsnick wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It strikes me as an entirely natural development and something that will appeal to many consumers. I get the feeling Apple have always wanted iPad to be an extra - an extension to the desktop experience. But the divisions between phone, tablet, "ultralight laptop" and "main laptop" are arbitrary and increasingly opaque. Many people are starting to see tablets and real possible replacements: for light users, it handle…

I do wonder a bit, how will this blurring of the laptop/tablet line affect their cash cow, Microsoft Office? The business world is trained to believe: they NEED office, and office == productivity. The iPad, long without these apps, challenged this ideal. How would the tablet world spilling into the laptop world affect Office sales...

For people who want productivity software suits like Office from lighter computers, they have online versions of Office.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#414

Post by bfe »

heyitsnick wrote: post #134
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…

It strikes me as an entirely natural development and something that will appeal to many consumers. I get the feeling Apple have always wanted iPad to be an extra - an extension to the desktop experience. But the divisions between phone, tablet, "ultralight laptop" and "main laptop" are arbitrary and increasingly opaque. Many people are starting to see tablets and real possible replacements: for light users, it handle…

And I think it makes a big difference that they're meaningfully aiming to transcend the iPad, not just imitate it.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#415

Post by greedo »

kenjackson wrote: post #397
greedo wrote: post #378

Can't wait to see how well the Pro version runs with Norton or McAfee burning up cpu cycles. Hope that's not the "desktop" experience they're aiming for.

Win8 comes with built-in antivirus. But of course you can buy Norton or McAfee if you like. In which case you have bigger problems than your CPU cycles.

And if the corporate world is a large target for the Surface, then it'll be expected to run with A/V software from the big vendors, regardless of what MS bundles with it. I have to run McAfee on each and everyone of my RHEL servers, despite the majority of them not having unfettered access to the Internet nor an email client.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#416

Post by ceol »

stcredzero wrote: post #330

Compare and contrast the the top thread here with the one on reddit. Obviously two different perspectives. http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/v8yrl/microsoft_... The questions are: - Is the keyboard any good? - Is the stylus any good? - Is the integration any good? - Is the experience any good? If Microsoft can get to yes for all 4 of those in a timely fashion, then they will at least have a business niche m…

The technology discussion on reddit is almost always anti-Apple to the point where I would consider them obsessed. Coupled with the memes and jokes, there's just no comparison to HN discussion when new tech is announced.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#417

Post by kailashbadu »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #144
kulkarnic wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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…

All that experiment proved is early 90s was not a right time for technology like Newton. Nothing more.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#418

Post by mattmaroon »

saurik wrote: post #190
ja27 wrote: post #55

I just flashed back to Ballmer mocking the MacBook Air 4 years ago. I guess he did want one after all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYcxvEfUikg

As someone who considers the current MacBook Air to be "the computer", enough to have made it my primary and only machine, the MacBook Air from four years ago was horrible: I laughed at my friends that got it, and I laughed all the harder when they didn't use it for months and then got a usable laptop. The 2010 Air is honestly barely the same device as the one from 2008. My point: pulling statements from four years a…

The same was true of the original iPhone. No 3g. $600 with a contract. No third party apps. Yet people routinely quote everyone (me included) who said it sucked and wouldn't sell well, even though it did miss its sales targets even after price drops.

That's just the way pontificating works in the internet age.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#419

Post by raganwald »

dorian-graph wrote: post #357
podperson wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, you think that the video succeeds on that level? I think there's about 10s worth of content there.

Don't pretend you're the world.

Ok, your argument is that this stuff works for the other 95% but it won’t appeal to us hackers. My question to you is, how does Apple make ads that appeal to the rest of the world and something like 75% of the hackers?

When the iPhone first came out, there was no nonsense about the brand and emotion without substance. They made EVERYONE want one.

Microsoft may have chosen not to appeal to us. But Apple has shown that you can do both.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#420

Post by bitrot »

greedo wrote: post #363
bitrot wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does the presence of iTunes have to do with the ridiculous suggestion that you can only "screw around with iTunes" on an iPad? The logic of your and greedo's replies boggles.

"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.)" Considering that Bud was spouting out of a bodily orifice, the rest of his argument is suspect as well. This, despite the fallacy of jrockway's argument deserves to be corrected.

Ah, my apologies. Somehow I managed to miss that part despite reading that comment and the replies several times over.

At any rate, jrockway is a known troll. Should've known better than to enter this fight.

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